Earth Overshoot Day

Sustainability often gets confusing.  Some believe that it means to simply 'do something', like recycling.  Others believe it means to embrace renewables over fossil fuels.  While it is often put in a box or a simple phrase like Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  But the main point is overlooked - that we overuse natural resources past the point where the Earth can regenerate that amount for us.  It is called Overshoot and it is at the core of what 'sustainability' is all about.

Do you know what today is?

Today, humanity reaches Earth Overshoot Day.  This is the day of the year in which human demand on the biosphere exceeds what it can regenerate. As of today, humanity has demanded all the ecological services, from filtering CO2 to producing the raw materials for food, that nature can regenerate this year.  For the rest of the year, we will meet our ecological demand by depleting resource stocks and accumulating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

To understand more about overshoot and its relationship to sustainability, please see the website of our friends at The Global Footprint Network: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/

thanks,
Jeff

jeff@jgowdyconsulting.com

Sports and Sustainability

The 2010 FIFA World Cup begins tomorrow and the anticipation is growing around the world.  I have travelled extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Europe and can affirm that soccer is truly the world's sport.  When I lived in Lisbon, Portugal in 1999-2000, I had the pleasure of going to both Sporting and Benfica home games and feeling the passion.  In 2006, I was a part of the World Cup crowd in Munich, Germany, where the city was literally swarmed by both Aussie and Brazilian fans.  It was a magical sight to see fans from various countries mingling and all cheering the same sport.

It leaves me wondering why we cannot come together around sustainability like we do around sports?  I know that sports, like soccer, are entertainment and provide an escape from the realities of day to day life.  But sports are also about celebrating human life.  So, too, is sustainability.  Sustainability is not only about celebrating human life but working to ensure that we can live in a bountiful world not only today, next year, but in decade and centuries to come.

What if our favorite sports and our favorite sports teams were to help lead the way around sustainability?  What if our favorite NFL team generated all of its electricity?  What if our favorite NBA team recycled all of its waste?  Or if our favorite university athletics department captured rain water to irrigate all of its fields?  Improvements can be done - I have witnessed it.  In 2005, I helped created a greenhouse gas baseline for the Philadelphia Eagles and devise strategies for improvement.  It was a part of the Eagles "Go Green Program".  To read more about this program, please visit this site: http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/gogreen/

Want to help?  Write, call, or email your favorite school's president or your favorite professional team's ownership and ask them to take action.

Jeff

jeff@jgowdyconsulting.com