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        1. Living Planet Report

Overconsumption? Ecological debt?!

Man scratching his head while staring at a blackboard full of formulae

What it means is that the vast majority of us are living beyond our planet's means.

Most of us are living in countries that cannot support our demands.

So we import our food and our power, and export our pollution and our environmental problems.

How do we see this in our everyday lives? How does it impact us?

You can already see some subtle signs in your supermarket.

Take a look at where certain types of food come from. The growing variety of countries that you now see on food packaging is a subtle indicator that our demands and desires can sometimes go far beyond our borders.

Our need for exotic foods and goods, out-of-season fruit all-year-round, or cheaper chicken...
Where overconsumption leads

Where does this overconsumption lead?

Let's take beef as an example...

We like it. Globally we eat a lot of it [this can be overconsumption].

In fact our demand for beef, and preferably cheap beef, has meant that rainforests have been cleared and drylands (places like savannahs) have been irrigated so that we can feed this consumption [this is ecological debt].

But these converted lands are "marginal lands". They can only support so much before they start degrading. So our demands have led in some areas to the overstocking of cattle - i.e. more cows than the land can support in the long term [this is ecological degradation].

So these lands eventually "collapse" - ecologically speaking. This means they stop giving us ecological services. Services such as the ability to stabilise soil, maintain its fertility and retain water, or maintain a balance between wild species.
Our current consumption patterns mean that:
  • we will need the equivalent of 2 planets by 2030 to support us,
  • and if we don't find that 2nd planet soon (and how likely is that?!),
  • then we are not only demanding more than our planet can produce,
  • but we will begin to lower the amount it can produce as we slowly damage it!

How else may we possibly see and feel the effects of our growing ecological debt?

It depends on where you live, but you might just notice...

  • The size of your favourite fish on offer in your supermarket is getting smaller, and some seafood that in the past was plentiful is now scarce and expensive, like cod and bluefin tuna
  • You hear more stories of extreme weather events (think hurricanes and floods). Or how the climate is getting warmer. Both are symptoms of our energy expenditure that is part of our ecological debt - just like a sneeze can be the sign of a cold, it all ties in.
  • How news reports come in of deserts "growing" as we overgraze and remove the protective land cover of natural vegetation.
We can see the growing signs of our ecological debt - but these changes are subtle and often occur slowly over time so we are immune to their presence and their effect.

Critically some of us will see the reverberations of our debt more than others, depending on where you are in the world. In places where there are delicate ecological balancing acts taking place the effect of our debt will be seen and felt more keenly.

But is the end nigh?

Certainly not.

You can help, in your daily life, to make a world where everyone thrives within their fair share of the Earth’s resources, while leaving space for wilderness and wildlife.

Living within our means is a smart decision. It's not about depriving oneself but responsible consumption.

There is still time and there are many simple ways you can have a positive impact in reducing your own ecological debt...

Is importing food bad?

No. And yes.

No because it can sometimes be less demanding to grow crops in a warmer climate (eg tomatoes in Spain rather than in a glasshouse in Denmark,  the energy expended and the CO2 produced for transport can be offset (such as with tree planting). Sure, we may pay a little more - a few pennies or cents or centimes - but spread over many products the additional cost to us, the consumer, is negligible. It should merely be seen as part of the price, like packaging and the shipping.

No because it is wonderful that our demands can create jobs in other areas of the worlds. But we must do all we can to ensure that the food that is grown is sustainably produced; and that people are paid a fair wage and treated well.

Yes because often the energy expended in getting it into our shops and onto your shelves is more than the energy that the food itself gives back to us (nutritionally).

Yes because sometimes this food is grown at the expense of natural forests, or needs irrigation from rivers which may be under too much pressure in dry climates, or soaked in irresponsible levels of dangerous chemicals, or produced at the expense of people who are either poorly paid and/or poorly treated.

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