For more than 4 months, human beings have used up renewable energy on Earth in 2018

Red alert, the speed of "consuming" our natural resources is increasingly terrible.

Earth has its own limits. But the desire of mankind seems to be unlimited. Global Footprint Network (GFN) is evaluating how much of our Earth's resources we use, from fresh water to clean air, and the day each year that humanity exceeds its annual self-regenerating capacity. this planet.

Humans have passed this natural "budget" every year since the early 1970s, and each year, that "excess day" is a little earlier. In 2018, the number is 1/8.

Every minute has passed since the 'excess' date is equivalent to 'capital deficit' rather than 'living on profit'. " One year is not enough to reconstruct the annual needs of humans on this planet, including using data sets with caution, " GFN announced.

In order to calculate that excess day, GFN divides the planet's biological ability (renewable ecological resources) on human demand for those resources. They use 15,000 data points collected from the United Nations for each country since 1961, categorized into four key elements: How much we consume, how effectively do we make goods , population, and natural productivity.

In 2018, we will use 1.7 times the Earth to serve human civilization. At the current rate, two new earths must be sufficient for 2030. The degradation is clearly visible in deforestation, collapsing fisheries, drought and greenhouse gas emissions, causing disturbance. big, economic damage and extinction of species on this planet.

GFN estimates that 86% of countries are living too far away from their ownership, ecological deficit. Some countries are worse than others. If the world consumes resources at the US level, then the excess day will fall into . March 15 (only 5 countries are in worse condition than the US).

"American living standard".

But the bright spots also appear. If we all live like in Vietnam or Morocco, the day of crossing the threshold may reach mid-December. Meanwhile, in many countries, economic development is separating itself from energy consumption, and consumption. Consumption of human raw materials varies from steel to . cardboard. In recent years, European and American countries are continuing to develop their economies while using less energy (although international trade contributes to this improvement). Partly also thanks to changes in how to live in rich countries. Electric train wins. Renewable fuels are competitive, or cheaper, than oil and gas. The population is saturated, even declining, while the poverty rate is the fastest decline in human history.

Electric cars are loaded at the parking lot.

According to Ms. Amanda Diep of GFN, reducing natural resource use is not synonymous with reducing living standards."Everyone can live well with what is available on this earth."

Where will we go, this question will be the battle between "The Prophet and the Witch". In the network book above, the scientific writer Charles C. Mann uses the above terms to describe the bipolar perspective on our future: believers who can revolutionize usage trends His infinite resources come from science and technology (Witch), and those who believe that crossing that line will cause disasters (the Prophet). However, we seem to be trapped in the debate about choosing a scenario based on completely denying the other scenario. " There could be both, but it doesn't seem to happen ," he said. The reason is because, this is a debate about value.

Two approaches.

Mann points out the tension between the community and freedom. For example, if we address climate change, do we support renewable energy and eliminate nuclear energy, or do we use "patching" technologies on a global scale like remove C02 gas or geo-engineering techniques?

The first option matches the Prophet's value: distribution solution, effective in the limits of nature and communities. The second option is suitable for Witches, seeking answers to environmental problems by optimizing the freedom of thinking of individuals, even if it does not depend on the limits of nature.

There is no physical rule that says you cannot have both, Mann asserts."But it's difficult because these value questions are at the heart of the problem."