Earth will have used up its allowance of planetary resources such as water, soil, and clean air for all of 2017 by tomorrow, a new report from environmental groups has said.
‘Earth Overshoot Day’ will arrive on 2 August this year, according to environmental groups WWF and Global Footprint Network.
This is a day earlier than in 2016.
"By 2 August 2017, we will have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the whole year," the groups said in a statement.
It added: "This means that in seven months, we emitted more carbon than the oceans and forests can absorb in a year"
"We caught more fish, felled more trees, harvested more, and consumed more water than the Earth was able to produce in the same period."
The report claims that the equivalent of 1.7 planets would be required to produce enough to meet humanity's needs at current consumption rates.
Earth Overshoot Day has been calculated every year since 1986, with the grim milestone arriving earlier each year.
In 1993, it fell on 21 October, in 2003 it arrived on 22 September, and in 2015 it was on 13 August.
The two groups said greenhouse gas emissions caused from burning coal, oil and gas make up 60% of mankind's ecological "footprint" on the planet.
While the milestone has tended to come earlier every year, the rate of its advance has slowed down, said the statement.
The report says individuals can contribute to stopping, and eventually reversing, the trend by eating less meat, burning less fuel, and cut back on food waste.
