Two Earths

Filed under Environment | 30 October 2008 | No comments yet

I was browsing through a local financial daily – LiveMint – when an interesting headline caught my eye: “Two Planets for Greed“, it read.  And, here’s what it had to say…

According to the latest World Wide Fund for Nature Living Planet Report, humanity’s current “ecological footprint”—or impact on the earth’s services—exceeds the planet’s regenerative capacity by about 30%. The report adds that if the present scenario prevails, “by the early 2030s we will need two planets to keep up with humanity’s demand for goods and services”.
 
India’s footprint, at 2.2 times its biocapacity—the potential of its living resources to supply the demands made by its population—is only marginally lower than China’s, at 2.3 times, but more than the US’, at 1.8 times. This, despite the fact that all three feature in the list of eight countries that account for 50% of the world’s total biocapacity.
Naturally, I headed to the WWF website to find out more.  And, the news was as disturbing as the original writeup had suggested:
 
The world is heading for an ecological credit crunch as human demands on the world’s natural capital far outstrips the Earth’s ability to sustain it.
Is there any thing you and I can do about this impending global crisis?  The good news is, Yes!
 
WWF has a detailed page on “How you can help the environment” by making small (but significant) changes in your daily life, whether at work, at home or even while travelling.  Get to that list, before it’s too late.  As the old line goes, “It’s not just a planet, it’s home!”
 
Read More:
Full text of the Living Planet Report 2008.

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