translated from Spanish: Argentina enters environmental default: what does it mean?

This year the Day of Excess Earth in Argentina is on June 26, the day on which our country will exhaust the natural resources available for the whole year, generating a new “environmental debt”. The initiative is carried out by the Global Footprint Network (GFN), an entity associated with the World Conservation Organization (WWF) and that Fundación Vida Silvestre represents in Argentina, seeks to raise awareness and acts as a global indicator of the speed at which we are “consuming the planet”. This calendar date does not correspond to a fixed date, but is modified year by year based on the consumption and use that humanity makes of natural goods and services. In Argentina it is estimated for June 26, a month before the overall date of July 29. That is to say that, during the coming months, the country and the world will be consuming future resources on credit, having used their natural capital and ecological budget planned for all of 2021.

The results are an indicator of the unprecedented pressure that human activities are putting on natural resources. At the rate we consume, the amount of resources and ecosystem services required to supply our needs is equivalent to 1.7 planets Earth, this means that we are using 70% more resources than our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate in a year. In other words, we are in environmental default: humanity is in the red and has in its account what is known as “ecological debt”. Most alarmingly, globally, this year’s figures are 16% higher and were anticipated a month compared to 2020.” We are convinced that the development of our country will be sustainable, or it will not be development. There are many strategies that make it possible to combine the economic, the social and the environmental and we cannot wait to implement them. We are in the Restoration Decade, promoted by the United Nations, and this environmental debt makes it very clear that post-COVID-19 economic recovery strategies can only be successful in the long term if they encompass regeneration, efficiency and sustainability in the use of ecological resources, “said Manuel Jaramillo , general director of Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina.

According to data from the Global Footprint Network, Argentina is among the countries that still have a reserve of biocapacity – understood as its reserves in ecological terms – to produce resources and provide environmental services, behind Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. However, there are alarming data from our country that show that there is still much to be done in this regard, considering also that despite our high biocapacity we are above the average worldwide.

Earth Excess Day is calculated from comparing the sum of all the world’s consumption demands with the natural resources available to meet it and the response capacity of ecosystems to replenish those resources. The initiative is driven globally by the Global Footprint Network to raise awareness and point out the speeding at which we are “consuming the planet.” How do you calculate your ecological footprint?

Enter foot print calculator by clicking here.
I chose the language of your choice at the top right.
Select “take the first step” and follow the steps to measure your footprint.
 Once you have the results, reflect on them and what habits you could modify to reduce your footprint.

What can we do to reduce our impact on the planet?

Be responsible with our waste. We must make an appropriate provision for it by separating those that are recyclable from those that are not. Cigarette butts are also trash, turn them off carefully and discard them in the trash, not on the street.
Cut food waste in half. Food waste accounts for 30% of food produced globally. This means that, among other things, we are serving ourselves food that we are not going to eat. Changing this starts with acts as simple as serving yourself only the portion you’re going to eat.
Look for sustainable alternatives that allow us to make compatible with our consumption, but above all with the conservation of our natural environments.
Walking or cycling as much as you can, so you help reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.
Use natural resources, such as water and energy, sparingly because they are scarce goods.
Try to implement the 3 Rs rule: Reduce your consumption and waste to the maximum. Recycle your waste, so that it can be used as raw material for the creation of new proDucts. Reuse objects to extend their life before disposing of them.

Original source in Spanish

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