Ever worry that we’re living outside of the earth’s means? Well your fears (ours too!) have been confirmed.
The World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report, the leading science-based analysis of how healthy mama earth is vs. our impact, found that we’re too greedy. Our demands are GREATER than earth’s capacity to sustain us.
The biennial (happening every 2 years) survey found that we’re using 50% more resources than can be replenished and our biodiversity is going south. (Yikes.) According to the data, Qatar and Kuwait are the top two resource hog. The U.S. ranked as the fifth worst. You can see the full list here. Other things we learned from the Living Planet Report:
- It takes the earth 1.5 years to replenish what we use in a year.
- There is a loss of 30% biodiversity on average worldwide. This means there’s a HUGE decline in the number of different species of plants, animals, and other organisms.
- High-income countries have an ecological footprint that is 5 times that of low-income nations.
- However, the steepest drop in biodiversity in the last 40 years has occurred in poorer countries.
- Tropical species have seen a 60% decline since the 1970s. And freshwater tropical species are the hardest hit with a decrease of 70%.
What can you do?
