In 2022, July 28 is the day when we will overconsume our planet’s resources for the year. Known as Earth Overshoot Day, this date marks the moment when our collective demand for natural resources surpasses the planet’s capacity to supply those resources.
Every year, Earth Overshoot Day is calculated by the research organization Global Footprint by comparing the biocapacity of the Earth with humankind’s use of its resources. This involves measuring, analyzing and predicting our demand for plant-based food, fish, livestock, wood, etc. and then offsetting this figure against the planet’s biologically-productive land and sea areas.
This year, Earth Overshoot Day falls earlier than ever before. For more than 5 months of 2022, we will continue demanding more from our planet than it can supply, depleting the Earth of its natural resources.
For every one of us, Earth Overshoot Day is a wake-up call, a stark reminder that our current way of life is unsustainable, and an incitement for us to act now to move back the date.
One of the key ways we can achieve this is by using water and energy more efficiently and more responsibly – and this is precisely what Diehl Metering empowers its customers and communities to do. From utilities and cities to individual consumers, we can all contribute to saving water and energy.
In 2021, Diehl Metering signed the UN Global Compact, a worldwide voluntary initiative for companies to contribute to a sustainable world. As part of our commitment, we want to raise awareness of Earth Overshoot Day. This year, we have organized an internal campaign, encouraging our employees to post messages about climate change on LinkedIn. In particular, we’ve asked them to take a selfie showing the palm of their hand with the inscription #MoveTheDate.
The more people we get talking about Earth Overshoot Day, the more of us there will be taking action. Because the best response to climate change is for us to all come together to make lasting change happen.