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"Earth Overshoot Day" [0] is as good a place to start as any if you're serious about answering the question. They try to calculate, in some detail, at what poi

by Syonyk 5y ago

"Earth Overshoot Day" [0] is as good a place to start as any if you're serious about answering the question. They try to calculate, in some detail, at what point in the year the current civilization has used the earth's annual "ability to regenerate" across a range of areas, and convert it into a calendar date. So if we're using twice the earth's annual regeneration, overshoot day would be about July 1. Etc. Spider off that and you can find some good resources on how it's calculated. Needless to say, it's not a pretty picture at the moment. [0]: https://www.overshootday.org/ https://www.overshootday.org/

fghgg 5y ago
Earth shoot day depends on the life style of people. Thus, I don't think it can be used to describe a maximum capacity earth could sustain
- jdmichal 5y ago
  That's like saying that the tendency of wolves to eat prey can't be used to describe a maximum capacity of wolves given an amount of prey. Maybe we could support more wolves if they starved a little? Or if they started eating pets in addition to wild prey? Or if they expanded their range? Knowing the maximum capacity that our Earth seems to be capable of sustaining based on current utilization is an important number, and isn't worthy of such a short-sighted dismissal. If lifestyles do change such that the maximum capacity increases, that's a huge win to be able to track.
  - fghgg 5y ago
    It's an important number. I am not dismissing it in general. We don't need to starve more than we have to starve now if we live less wasteful. That said, when it comes to looking at the maximum capacity earth could sustain, it rather seems short sighted to not consider life style changes while even the article being commented is about shrinking consumption.
deltree7 5y ago
So, the Earth Overshoot Day people know exactly the model of the Universe that they can accurately measure (let alone predict) all these things? Where is your 'scientific thinking' in questioning all these things?

by Syonyk 5y ago

fghgg 5y ago

Earth shoot day depends on the life style of people. Thus, I don't think it can be used to describe a maximum capacity earth could sustain

jdmichal 5y ago
That's like saying that the tendency of wolves to eat prey can't be used to describe a maximum capacity of wolves given an amount of prey. Maybe we could support more wolves if they starved a little? Or if they started eating pets in addition to wild prey? Or if they expanded their range? Knowing the maximum capacity that our Earth seems to be capable of sustaining based on current utilization is an important number, and isn't worthy of such a short-sighted dismissal. If lifestyles do change such that the maximum capacity increases, that's a huge win to be able to track.
- fghgg 5y ago
  It's an important number. I am not dismissing it in general. We don't need to starve more than we have to starve now if we live less wasteful. That said, when it comes to looking at the maximum capacity earth could sustain, it rather seems short sighted to not consider life style changes while even the article being commented is about shrinking consumption.

deltree7 5y ago

So, the Earth Overshoot Day people know exactly the model of the Universe that they can accurately measure (let alone predict) all these things? Where is your 'scientific thinking' in questioning all these things?