Today is the day of the year when mankind over-exploits the world's resources - the day when we start living beyond our ecological means for the rest of the year.

The New Economics Foundation has calculated from research by the Global Footprint Network that the day when our global resource consumption surpasses a sustainable level falls on October 9th this year. The world has a certain quantity of natural resources that can sustainably be used up each year, today is the date at which this annual capacity is reached.

The Global Footprint Network estimates that the human race is over-using the Earth's resources by 23 per cent. While each individual should use up no more than the equivalent of 1.8 hectares of the Earth's surface, the actual area we use is 2.2 hectares per person. The United States leads the world in resource consumption.

Mathis Wackernagel, executive director of Global Footprint Network, which analyses 6,000 pieces of data, warned that the limit of the Earth's endurance had already been reached.
Humanity started living beyond its means on a global level in 1987, when the limit of sustainability was reached on December 19th. The date of the Ecological Debt Day has started earlier every year since then. Last year it occurred on October 11th.

Global Footprint estimates the world would need five planet Earths to sustain a global society such as that in the US, while almost three Earths would be needed for a global society such as that in the UK. This year's global Ecological Debt Day meant that it would take the Earth 15 months to regenerate what was consumed this year. As global resources shrink, there will be more likelihood of competition for those resources, leading to conflict and war.