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 nef's ecological debt calendar shows the days in a typical calendar year when, in effect, a range of countries stop relying on their own natural resources, and start to live off the rest of the world
At current levels of natural resource use in the UK, the average person begins living beyond their environmental means and goes into ecological debt on 16 April. As our total consumption grows, that date moves ever earlier in the year. In 1961 it was 9 July, advancing to 14 May in 1981.
The planet can tolerate a little give and take without environmental collapse as long as, in total, humanity lives within its overall ecological budget.
But the world as a whole is also now living beyond the capacity of its ecosystems to regenerate and goes into ecological debt on 23 October, causing long-term environmental degradation.
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