Slovenia marks its Earth Overshoot Day
Slovenia's Earth Overshoot Day landed on 25 April this year, which is one week later than last year. The day, also known as Ecological Debt Day, marks the day when the annual biocapacity of Earth would be used up if everyone lived like people in Slovenia do.
According to the Global Footprint Network organisation, the ecological footprint of a Slovenian is 5.37 global hectares, while the Earth only has 12.2 billion hectares of productive land, such as grasslands, farmland and fishing areas.
If everyone lived like Slovenians, people would need 3.4 Earth-sized planets to meet their natural resources needs, according to the Institute of Health and Environment.
The actions of Slovenians go beyond the capacities of the planet and underline the need for sustainable solutions to preserve natural resources, the organisation said.
It has launched an awareness-raising campaign on social media, where different speakers will note factors that affect ecological footprint, such as food, consumerism, mobility and energy.
Individuals can also calculate their individual ecological footprint on the organisation's website.
The earliest Earth Overshoot Day this year occurred in Qatar, on 11 February, followed by Luxembourg (20 February) and the United Arab Emirates (4 March). The US, Canada and Denmark recorded theirs between 14 and 16 March.
Slovenia fares better than countries such as Sweden (21 April), Austria (7 April) or the Netherlands (1 April), but poorer than Germany (2 May) or France (7 May).
The fact that Slovenia's Earth Overshoot Day landed one week later than last year is no cause for optimism, the non-parliamentary green party Vesna commented. "In Slovenia we spend two thirds of the year living on credit we cannot repay, to the detriment of future generations," the party noted.