Human ecology

Policy-makers, experts, environmentalists and representatives of NGOs and companies discussed ways that can help reduce Slovenia's ecological footprint at a panel held in Ljubljana ahead of Earth Overshoot Day, the day when humanity's demand on nature exceeds Earth's biocapacity. This year Earth Overshoot Day falls on 2 August.

From climate change to species loss and pollution, humans have etched their impact on the Earth with such strength and permanence since the middle of the 20th century that a special team of scientists says a new geologic epoch began then.

Ljubljana – Slovenia’s Earth Overshoot Day, also known as Ecological Debt Day, landed on 18 April this year, meaning it has moved forward by twelve days compared to last year, experts warn. This Monday thus marks the date when the annual biocapacity of our planet would be used up if everyone on Earth lived like people in Slovenia do.

Viruses can jump from animal to human and around the world in a heartbeat. Factory emissions can contribute to wildfires a hemisphere away. Plastic dropped on a city street can clog waterways and threaten sea life on a distant shore. A flood in one rural region of Anatolia can affect the food supplies or prices in the megacity of Istanbul the other day.

From today, humanity lives on an eco-credit because it has already used all of the planet's natural resources this year. This is two months earlier than 20 years ago, according to a calculation of the non-governmental organization Global Footprint Network.

Now humanity uses natural resources 1.75 times faster than ecosystem recovery capacity, scientists warn.

This trend is accelerating, the United Nations said, quoted by NOVA TV. 

Turkey aims to invest roughly $11 billion in energy efficiency over the next five years, cut its primary energy consumption by 14 percent, and reduce 66 million tons of CO2 emissions, Turkey's Deputy Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on April 9.

Romania's final energy consumption will increase between 2019 and 2022, with annual jumps of approximately 2.4 percent, the Energy Balance Forecast published in December by the National Commission for Strategy and Prognosis (CNSP) showed.

Geology moves very slowly, and so do geologists. The Working Group on the Anthropocene was set up in 2009, but only presented its recommendation to the International Geological Congress in Cape Town last Monday. The Working Group's experts have concluded that we are now living in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. That is, the epoch when human beings are reshaping the Earth.

Turkey's energy consumption has seen a sharp increase since 2003, hitting $40 billion annually with an average growth of 5 percent in the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The demand for electricity has also grown at around 5 percent annually for the last 16 years.

Skyrocketing demand is, however, mainly being met by imported crude oil and natural gas.