Making Changes

Tomorrow marks the end of Plastic Free July. A whole month where individuals and organisations have been attempting to reduce their plastic consumption.  Overshadowing this somewhat is the fact that yesterday was Earth Overshoot day for 2019

www.overshootday.org describes this day as:

"Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year"

Or as Greta Thunberg described it yesterday:

"we have globally used up the worlds annual resources. The rest of the year we are stealing from future generations and poorer parts of the world"

Each year this date is moving earlier. For 2019 it was 29th July....so this year it's 3 days earlier than last year. If you happen to look at your own country (UK for me) it's an even scarier situation that surely can't continue without a massive crisis.

This is not necessarily about plastic of course although it certainly adds to the issues. It's about how we manufacture, how we make energy, how we live and the overall population of people, animals and fauna. Plastic is just a drop in the ocean (pardon the pun) as far as all this goes but it's still a massive issue in it's own right.

Tomorrow I will be reviewing the changes that I have made through plastic Free July. By taking part in this month I have become more aware of my own plastic usage and more considered about when I use it, why I use and how I use it. I will definitely be keeping up with my swaps and hopefully continuing to make more.

If you would like to know more about Earth Overshoot day and learn more about how it's calculated go take a look at  https://www.overshootday.org/about/ You can find the charts above in much more detail.

Why not try to see what your own personal overshoot day is using this calculator http://www.footprintcalculator.org/