Since 1950 we have seen a dramatic growth in the resources we draw from the planet, and the emissions and waste we generate. On a range of indicators – greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater extraction, automobile production, de-forestation, declining biodiversity and so on – the pressures on the planet have been growing exponentially.
These trends have been referred to by some scientists as ‘The Great Acceleration’ (Steffen, Crutzen & McNeill). They have argued that our current era has seen the Holocene superceded by the Anthropocene, in which humans are now the key force shaping the geo-physical environment.
Wackernagel and the Global Footprint Network have measured the health of the planet’s ecosystems, and the demands humanity places on these ecosystems. They track the use of cropland, grazing land, forests, carbon footprint, fishing grounds and built-up land. They find, in brief, that demand exceeds supply, and estimate that our footprint is equivalent to 1.4 planets. We have overshot the capacity of the planet to absorb our waste and generate new resources.
