Archive
Overshoot as Market Failure
If there are too few bakers, bread becomes expensive. As a result, more people open bakeries, and bread prices drop again. Adam Smith called this the “invisible hand” of markets. But when it comes to the biosphere, this invisible hand... Read More
March 13th: A Big Day for the U.S.
At least it’s not Friday the 13th—but on March 13, the U.S. will reach its Overshoot Day for the year 2025. What is this Overshoot Day? If everyone in the world lived like U.S. residents, humanity would have exhausted its... Read More
The Global Footprint Network approach
Humanity’s escalating ecological overshoot—demanding over 70% more from nature than ecosystems can regenerate—has led to climate disruption, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion, undermining global stability. While climate change understandably dominates the environmental discourse, it is often framed as a “free-rider... Read More
Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget
In this book, Mathis Wackernagel and Bert Beyers introduce the basic concepts, from Footprint to biocapacity and overshoot. They explain applications of this accounting tool as well as the implications of overshoot. This book is an ideal introduction to the... Read More
🎵 I love Paris… 🎵
This romantic song Cole Porter wrote in 1953 stands in sharp contrast to the current U.S. administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. This decision reflects the administration’s view that the potential “disease” of climate change is less... Read More
Nobel Sustainability Award Ceremony
Global Footprint Network co-founder Dr. Mathis Wackernagel received this year’s Sustainability Award at the Nobel Sustainability Trust‘s 2024 Summit at the University of California, Berkeley. You can see more about the ceremony here. He was recognized for his leadership in implementing sustainability... Read More
What would it take to halt biodiversity loss?
On the tail of the recent biodiversity conference, COP16 in Calí, Colombia, Global Footprint Network and European Topic Center on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (ETC BE) are excited to announce their new publication “Exploring the societal factors enabling to halt... Read More
Colombian Parliament Honors Mathis Wackernagel
On October 23, 2024, in the context of COP16, the UN biodiversity conference held in Calí, Colombia, Mathis Wackernagel was honored by the Colombian Congress with the “Gran Cruz con Placa de Oro” on recommendation of the honorable representative Julia Miranda.... Read More