#humanfootprint

Carbon Capture Refuge X by Bless Yee,

These habitats are home to refugees who are engaged in environmental research. Each infrastructure features solar panels and direct-air-capture fans that extract carbon from the atmosphere, converting it into electrical energy.

The energy runs through neon strips within the infrastructure's floors, walls, and roofs.

Redesign the World competition powered by Twinmotion.

How Fast are Countries Burning Through Natural Resources?

by Anna Fleck.

This year’s country overshoot dates, released by the think tank Global Footprint Network, reveal a pretty daunting prospect. Not only do they show the extent to which we are over-extracting the planet’s resources, but they also underline the extreme inequalities that exist between countries.

Our chart shows that Qatar, a relatively small and rich country, comes out on top for burning through resources the fastest. In fact, if the whole planet consumed resources at the pace of Qatar, we would hit our 2022 threshold by February 10. Meanwhile, Indonesia, Jamaica and Benin are three of the handful of countries that have overshoot days in December. The consumption divide seems to be split between richer, industrialized countries and those with a lower-income. 50 countries do not overextend their natural resources and therefore do not have an Earth Overshoot Day.

While the pandemic saw humanity’s global environmental footprint start to decline, with Earth Overshoot Day for the entire globe taking place later than usual in 2020, on August 22, this seems to have been short lived, as the day fell on July 29 in 2021, the same day as in 2019. The date for 2022 is yet to be announced.

Celebrating the most important day in the world: Earth Day 2021!

On Thursday, April 22, the world will celebrate Earth Day, the largest non-religious holiday on the globe.

This Earth Day falls at a critical turning point. It is the second Earth Day since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and follows a year of devastating climate disasters, such as the wildfires that scorched California and the hurricanes that battered Central America.

International Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.

It also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.

Image Credit: duncan1890

Garbage in Lake Uru Uru, in Oruro, Bolivia, March 30, 2021. (EPA Photo),

An official of the Municipal Government Health Unit walks among the pollution of Lake Uru Uru, in Oruro, Bolivia, March 30, 2021. (EPA Photo)