In 2021 29 July is earth overshoot day, the day of a given year when - counted from the 1st of January - mankind has used up as much of the Earth's worldwide resources as they can bring back in one year and process the waste produced. In 2020 August 22 was earth overshoot day.
The organization behind Earth Overshoot Day has launched a campaign under the hashtag #movethedate. More information can be found at https://www.overshootday.org/steps-to-movethedate/
I'd like to calculate how much I contribute to global warming and so I went looking for a good standard to calculate my consumption.
The carbon footprint is the best known tool. According to critics it is too simple as a tool, but on the other hand it is a default.
Curious to find out how much it can save you, if you commute by car, public transport or even cheaper/environmentally friendly by bike?
In the Carbon footprint you can look it up yourself
Wondering how much it will cost, if you plan to offset the CO2 emissions? So that you can make a fair comparison between grey and green energy suppliers - because with the latter your CO2 emissions are directly zero!
It's astonishingly cheap, because my carbon footprint of offsetting 5 tons of CO2 costs $60 at gold standard. That's much cheaper than planting new forest in Western Europe! Renowned economists argue for a much higher (and realistic) price to avoid a catastrophic climate crisis.
Environmentally harmful matters, such as transport of container ships instead of local products, will also be calculable in the future. If I need a new bike, it is not yet possible to compare the environmental impact of a second hand bike with a new bike, which has to come from Taiwan.
Of course, you can also reduce your ecological footprint by using energy more consciously. Tips can be found everywhere: