A time for action!A time for action!A time for action!A time for action!

 According to the Global Footprint Network, July 29 is Earth Overshoot Day this year, the date that human demand for ecological resources and services has surpassed what the Earth can regenerate in a year.  In effect, it marks the time upon which we begin borrowing the Earth's future resources to operate our economies in the present.

How is this possible?

Human population is growing at an unprecedented rate of a billion people every 12 years.   Given our current wasteful practices, our planet is feeling the pain as we witness the emergence of an ecological crisis-in-play.  Consider the following statistics:

• Humanity produces 1.3 trillion metric tons of waste each year, or enough  to build approximately 7 mountains the size of Mount Everest.
• The earth has lost half of its wildlife and a third of its arable land in the past 40 years.    The  destruction is  accelerating.
• Despite having destroyed more than half of the world's forests to date, deforestation is expanding at a non-replenishment rate that will yield a barren-earth by the end of the century.
• While our freshwater reserves account for only a half percent of the world's water supply, more than 50% of it is unfit for human consumption and agricultural use despite the fact that we will need 30% more freshwater by 2030
• More than five trillion pieces of plastic currently litter our oceans,  much  of  which  is poisoning  aquatic  life  (and humanity, through their consumption) on  an  unprecedented  scale.  

Human beings are becoming more disconnected, disenfranchised and lonelier than ever before and the effects are broad-based and devastating.  Consider that a majority of humans suffer from unhealthy air, poor water quality, and a precipitous decline in the nutritional content of food.  Moreover, innovations in information technology have successfully disengaged people from each other and the world for the majority of their day,  and humans have become more sedentary.  As a result, media addiction and substance abuse, obesity, and diabetes are on the rise.  This has given way to a decline in overall productivity and a epidemic rise in mental illness.  

Today, in the U.S. alone, nearly nearly one in  three Americans is food and shelter insecure, and nearly 1 in 5 children live in poverty.  On top of that, approximately 40% of all U.S. adults are obese, nearly one in three Americans is diabetic or pre-diabetic, nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults suffers from mental illness, approximately 1 in 8 U.S. adults suffers from alcoholism, and approximately 1 in 12 U.S. adults suffers from substance abuse in other forms, The divorce rate is consistently sky high (more than 40%), more than 40% of American adults don't vote in any election, 1 in 3 are leaving their children and elderly in the care of strangers, and a majority are disconnected from faith, community and the institution of marriage.  

 Since population is likely to continue to increase, it is the nature of people that we must change.    Alan Fine has a plan set toward the achievement of the UN's "17 Sustainable Development Goals." In effect, an organization that seeks to improve our collective humanity, public health, planetary wellness and propensity for personal happiness.  Contact Alan Fine and learn how you and/or your organization can make a difference.