EARTH'S natural resources are being used 25 per cent faster than the planet can renew them, analysis by conservation group WWF indicates.
Measurements of crop yields, carbon dioxide emissions, fishing and the use of forests suggest that mankind's ecological footprint is too big to be
sustained.
Since 1961, it has more than tripled in size and, for the past 20 years, mankind has been living beyond its ecological means, a WWF report says.
It is the equivalent, in banking terms, of living off capital rather than interest.
Using UN projections of the growth of the human population and economies, the report predicts
that by the middle of the century "large-scale
ecosystem collapse" is likely.
The world's average footprint is calculated to be 2.2ha per capita, but only 1.8ha of each person's consumption can be regenerated by the planet
each year.
Source
Great news. It seems that we're living in an age of bad news only. If we're not gonna die due to a nuclear war, we'll die due to the consequences
of our ignorant way of living.
Edit: source
[edit on 24-10-2006 by Mdv2]
