Earth Overshoot Day, in 2025, is predicted to be on July 24th. This date signifies when our demand on natural resources is more than what the Earth can regenerate in a year. It’s calculated by dividing the planet’s capacity to support life by humanity’s ecological footprint and multiplying by 365. It marks the point where we start consuming resources faster than they can be replenished. 

Each year, Earth Overshoot Day is calculated to be getting earlier and earlier. In 1970, Earth Overshoot Day fell on December 23rd. This year it falls on July 24th.

We are overshooting the Earth’s capacity to regenerate in so many areas, eg:

  • in one year we catch more fish than will reproduce each year so the number of fish decreases every year;
  • we are cutting down forests faster than they can regrow
  • the way we grow our food is leading to soil loss at a greater rate than soil is produced
  • we are generating greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide faster than the earth can absorb it safely.

If we don’t do something to reverse this trend and make Earth Overshoot Day later and later, we will approach a point where the Earth can no longer sustain life in a way that suits us.

The best way to postpone Overshoot Day is to reduce the consumption of natural resources, which involves slowing down our current economic model and transition from an unsustainable lifestyle of over-consumption to a sustainable model – a circular economy.

For all life to flourish, humanity as a whole needs to make do with less. We need to protect the environment that gives us life.

How can you help to postpone Earth Overshoot Day? Add your comments below.

To help you remember, print out or draw a footprint and write in it all the actions you intend to take to reduce your ecological footprint and to help postpone Earth Overshoot Day.

You can read more about Earth Overshoot Day at https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/