Green Heart At Work: August 2016

Friday 12 August 2016

Spreading some ellie love on World Elephant Day

An elephant never forgets…

So, all animal lovers must also not forget that today is a very special day for our majestic elephants: World Elephant Day. This elephantastic day is annually celebrated on the 12^th of August.

World Elephant Day was first celebrated in 2012 in order to bring greater attention to the vital plight of elephant species, including Asian and African elephants. It is an international initiative co-founded by Canadian Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand. It is now the fifth year that it globally raises awareness. Millions of participants globally show their support.

This special day commemorates our fascinatingly majestic creatures, the world’s largest terrestrial animal. Elephants are highly intelligent, social, and empathetic and have an essential role in their ecosystems. They are revered and respected species, but they are on the brink of extinction. These charismatic animals face various threats such as poaching, habitat loss and space limitation. Given the harsh reality faced by many elephants, it is so vitally important to raise awareness of their plight in order to conserve these majestic animals.

Whichever way you decide to help raise awareness, you will make an invaluable contribution. So please, spread the Ellie love and celebrate this important environmental day!

Source: Livescience

Source: Pinterest

Source: Days of the year

Monday 8 August 2016

Earth Overshoot Day 2016

Today, August the 8^th, is Earth Overshoot Day (EOD) as humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. Since 1970, Earth Overshoot Day has come earlier in the year. This year, though, is a record. We have used as much ecological resources and services (overfishing, overharvesting forests and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests can sequester), from nature as our planet can regenerate in the whole year! In order to maintain this deficit, we liquidate stocks of ecological resources and accumulating waste, particularly carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In less than eight months, we used more natural resources than the planet is able to produce in a 12 month period. Thus for the rest of the year, we will be operating in overshoot which means that any consumption from now on signifies an unsustainable burden on the planet.

Source: Independent UK

Source: Footprint Network

This day is hosted and calculated by Global Footprint Network. They are an international sustainability organisation that does invaluable work in terms of coordinating research, developing methodological standards, and providing decision-makers with the necessary tools so that the human economy fully operate within our Earth’s ecological limits.

From an economic perspective, EOD signifies the day in which humanity enters an ecological deficit spending. From an ecological perspective, it illustrates the level by which human population overshoots its environment.

Earth Overshoot Day is an estimate, not a precise date. In order to determine the date of Earth Overshoot Day for each year, it is calculated by dividing the planet’s biocapacity (the amount of ecological resources Earth is able to generate that year), by humanity’s Ecological Footprint (humanity’s demand for that year), and multiplying by 366, the number of days in 2016:

(Planet’s Biocapacity / Humanity’s Ecological Footprint) x 366 = Earth Overshoot Day

Calculate your own personal Ecological Footprint and learn what you can do to reduce it with Footprint Network’s Footprint Calculator. The good news, however, is that something can still be done. There is still an opportunity to reduce humanity’s ecological footprint. We must considerably cut carbon emissions! Use the following hashtags: #PledgeforthePlanet, #overshoot, and #EarthOvershootDay2016 to show your support towards a sustainable future!

Below are two videos showing what Earth Overshoot Day involves: