Are you doing anything about earth overshoot?

Grist published an article explaining the day – there’s a day called “Earth Overshoot Day”.

“Earth Overshoot Day” reminds us that humans consume more resources than the planet can provide. Correcting that requires reimagining human behavior.

Grist

Humans have taken more from earth than the earth can supply within balance since 1971.

The question for me, what am I and what are you going to do about it? There can be no hope w/out action, right? (Ray Bradbury wikipedia). Surprisingly, the Grist author’s interviewee helped with a great line (bold mine).

But only attempting to fight the symptoms of overshoot didn’t make sense to Phoebe Barnard, a global change scientist affiliated with the University of Washington. “We all need to be talking about the root causes and becoming aware of them so we can work on them,” she said. She co-founded a nonprofit called the Stable Planet Alliance with two colleagues to focus on the issue of ecological overshoot, as well as the behaviors and practices that have created the problem.

Grist

Symptom chasing is sometimes necessary, but not this time! The post continues on and makes an even greater claim that I want echoed from the rooftops, mountaintops, etc so that the rafters tremble.

“Let’s take that conversation away from the old white men who’ve been dominating the conversation, and get women around the world to talk about it,” Barnard said. She pointed out that educating girls and women is often enough to bend birth rates downward, and promote a myriad of other benefits.

Grist

Now we have a blueprint for action – a) find and solve root causes, and b) follow the women’s lead and remove the old white men (like me). Leads right back to where we started, what are YOU going to do about it? We all have choices to make that could help

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