Im in San Christobal de las Casa in Chiapas in Mexico. It is a beautiful city in 2000 m surrounded by nature where a lot of native people live similar lifestyles as their Mayan ancestors lived here more than 2 thousand years ago. I was told that the main reason why the big Mayan civilization collapsed was that they have run out of recourses. It is exactly what our civilization is doing today, but globally.
Scientists tell us that since today (Sept. 26 2009) our global civilization is living on Earth credit.
In the year 2009 our global civilization will require the equivalent of 1.4 planets to support our lifestyles. Put another way, in less than 10 months, humanity will have used ecological services it takes 12 months for the Earth to regenerate.
Of course, we only have one Earth. The fact that we are using (or “spending” natural capital) faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continually exceed income. In planetary terms, the results of our ecological overspending are becoming more clear by the day. Climate change – a result of carbon being emitted faster than it can be reabsorbed by the forests and seas – is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others as well: shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse and freshwater stress to name a few.
We currently maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planet’s natural resources. For example we can cut trees faster than they re-grow, and catch fish at a rate faster than they repopulate. While this can be done for a short while, overshoot ultimately leads to the depletion of resources on which our economy depends.
How can we live in balance with nature and use the available recourses ?
More info about the Foot print: www.footprintnetwork.org
Here is a link to my Fotprint youtube playlist
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