Earth Overshoot Day, according to the pioneering international sustainability organization "Ecological Footprint," the "Global Footprint Network," is the date on which humanity's demand for nature exceeds Earth's capacity to replenish it throughout the year.

The organization calculates that Earth will exhaust its supply of nature this year on Thursday, and humans are now using their "credit cards."

This overshoot occurs because, the Global Footprint Network explains in a statement, people emit more carbon dioxide (CO2) than the biosphere can absorb, use more freshwater than can be replenished, harvest more trees than can grow back, and fish faster than fish stocks can replenish, among other factors.

Overuse beyond what nature can replenish "inevitably depletes Earth's natural capital" and compromises long-term resource security, "especially for those already struggling to access the resources they need to function," it warns.

Although this year's overshoot day is the earliest on record, the Global Footprint Network says it has remained stable over the past 15 years, occurring around the first seven months of the year.

Despite the stagnation trend, the Portuguese environmental association Zero also notes in a statement that even without major variations in the day of overload, the pressure on the planet continues to increase due to the accumulation of damage.

Humanity, Zero emphasizes, must "accelerate the pace and promote the necessary changes" to reduce the impact its activities and needs have on the planet's carrying capacity.

And Zero gives examples: if half the world implemented a "Green New Deal" with the European Union's (EU) level of ambition, the carbon overload could be postponed by 42 days over the next 10 years.

If a carbon tax of around $100 per ton were applied, the postponement would be 63 days. And if humans ate half the meat they currently eat, the "credit card" activated now would only be used within 17 days.

The Global Footprint Network warns that excess CO2 emissions not only cause biodiversity loss or resource depletion but also stagnate the economy, increase inflation, food and energy insecurity, health crises, and conflicts. And those who don't prepare, whether cities or countries, will face greater risks, the organization warns.

Overload is also a market failure, a threat to excessive resource consumers, and if left unchecked, the planet's overload will end in catastrophe, it warns.

Zero also states that the tendency to anticipate "the use of environmental credit cards is a threat to the well-being of present and future generations."

Zero advocates the promotion of a well-being economy as a solution, in which prosperity is defined not only by GDP growth, but by ecological health, social equity, and human well-being, in a logic of reorienting production and consumption systems to respect planetary limits, while ensuring the satisfaction of basic needs and quality of life for all people.

The association says this approach involves a law that guarantees that the rights of future generations and the defence of intergenerational justice are an integral part of the decision-making process. It adds that several countries are working in this direction, and that in Portugal, the associations Zero, Oikos, and Último Recurso are also preparing a legislative proposal with this goal in mind.

Every year, the Global Footprint Network announces Earth Overshoot Day on World Environment Day, June 5th.

The organization's website also provides country-by-country calculations, according to which Portugal exhausted its available resources as early as May 5th. If all the planet's inhabitants consumed as much as the Portuguese, almost three planets would be needed.