It's only August but humans have already consumed a year's worth of resources

2015-08-14T15:40:00-04:00

Humans have exhausted a year’s supply of natural resources in less than eight months, according to an analysis of the demands the world’s population are placing on the planet.

According to the Guardian article, the world's population currently consumes the equivalent of 1.6 planets a year – and, at the rate we're going, that will jump to two planets a year by 2030. But what does that mean, exactly?

Earth Overshoot Day, or Ecological Debt Day, refers to the "date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year." It's determined by the Global Footprint Network, a think tank that provides ecological footprint accounting services.

This year Earth Overshoot Day was August 13 – six days earlier than last year. That means that despite efforts to reduce resource depletion, global consumption continues to rise due to both population growth and increased consumptive behavior.

While industrialized countries have traditionally been responsible for the largest share of global consumption, this balance is shifting as the rest of the world develops.

Experts believe that humans first began to exceed the...

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It's only August but humans have already consumed a year's worth of resources