coolmelbourne.org

‘It's easy to imagine that us Australians have really made a secure future for ourselves here, but ever since the time the first Europeans arrived we've altered nature so much that we've become an exterminator species - the future eaters.'

Tim Flannery

All business and banking people will tell you that the last thing that you want to do in business or life is eat into your savings; you must live off the interest and hand onto your savings at all costs. So why is it that we are chewing through our Earth’s resources (savings) each year?

It’s official - we are living on credit that we will not be paying back. Just like an overdue loan against our pocket money, the day will come when we will have to clear our debt.

Earth Overshoot Day will occur this year. This is the day when we have used up all the resources that our planet produces for the year, when we begin living beyond our ecological means. All resources used for the rest of the year will eat into the Earth’s savings.

This means that we need 1.4 planets to support us...

…errr, make that 4!!!

At least according to the ways that Victorian live that is. Yep, it’s true: if everyone on Earth lived like Victorians we would need 4 planets. Shocking isn’t it?

A report called the 2008 Victorian State of the Environment report says that our addiction with buying and wasting stuff is making our the environment in Victoria pretty sick.

The number of plants and animals in our state that are at risk of extinction just keeps on growing. Our rivers are unhealthy and our forests are getting smaller and smaller.

We’re pushing our environment to the limits, living like we’ve got four planets to help us along.

The problem is that we don’t have another planet (or 4) to help us out. Not even a nearby planet to lend us a cup of sugar, a new forest or a fresh river.

Our use of nature's resources has risen from using 50% of Earth's resources in 1961 to over 125% in 2007 to more than 130% in 2008. Next year we will use even more.

We need help nature by looking after the planet's ecosystems. We must do something about the three major things that affect our demand on our planet: what we consume, how we produce things and the size of the population.

What will you do?