What is the earth-overshoot day and what would happen if it got closer to new years day?
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The concept of Earth Overshoot Day is that the world have a certain ability to heal itself from human impact. So in a certain year the Earth will regenerate a certain amount of ecological resources. Earth Overshoot Day is the day when humans have spent all the ecological resources that the Earth are able to regenerate that year and will now use of the planets stored resources. This is a very simplified model of the complex interaction between humans and various ecological processes but it is an effective illustration of the ecological problems we will be facing in the future, and are starting to face now.
The later in the year we can push EOD the better for the planet we all inhabit. We would like the EOD to reach new years as this means we do not use more resources then the planet can regenerate. So there is no overshoot. Preferably we would even try to use less resources then the Earth can regenerate so that the planet can heal previous years damage, thus creating an Earth Undershoot Day or something when all the resources planned to be used by humans have already been regenerated by the planet and now the Earth can work on healing itself for the rest of the year.
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