Today is World Environment Day! We celebrate by launching the 2018 campaign to #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day. This year Earth Overshoot Day falls on August 1.
For the third year in a row, we invite you to explore steps that support the global movement to get humanity out of ecological overshoot (the growing ecological deficit that humanity has been running since the early 1970s.)
As you know, transforming the economy so that we can all thrive within the budget of our one planet is a long-term effort. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And like a marathon, it is not easy. The transformation requires many steps, from the individual to the city to the national level. There are plenty of steps you can take now to start participating in this transformation. And thank you for everything you already do in your daily life to support living within the means of nature.
Our effort can’t stop there, however. Growing the movement towards systemic change requires peer-to-peer engagement as well as mobilizing bigger numbers, so that institutions, from businesses to governments, address ecological overshoot.
Please help us grow the movement! Talk to your friends; organize a neighborhood gathering to get people excited about the Ecological Footprint; reach out to your elected officials; or launch a program at your company or organization to show colleagues what Footprint thinking can do for them, and how it relates to their interests. The sky is the limit.
We look forward to your participation in this year’s Earth Overshoot Day campaign – whether you are a newbie or a veteran. Yes, dare yourself to explore some next steps you might take. It’s a fun game to play (at least we think so!) but it’s also a lot more than a game. We believe overusing Earth’s ecosystems is becoming one of the largest challenges facing humanity today, with climate change being a big portion of that challenge. So let’s play because if we don’t, what game will our children and grandchildren be left with?
We’ll be reaching out to you weekly until Earth Overshoot Day to bring you news from the campaign. Stay tuned!
Thank you,