Humanity will use 1.7 Earths worth of resources this year
The globe marked “Earth Overshoot Day” on August 2nd, calculated as the day when humanity has used up more than the total amount of resources made available by the Earth over the course of the year. And the day has been getting earlier and earlier every year.
Earth Overshoot Day is a calculation which defines the total amount of ecological services available from natural processes, then compares that to how quickly humanity uses up those processes.
These services include clean air and water, forest products, fertile soil, pollination, fisheries, land use and so on.
But humanity, since the 1970s, has not been content simply to use up the services available to us, but rather to overuse them – thus creating longterm effects that result in fewer of the same resources being available in the future, compounding these problems.
This overuse can take several forms. Consider deforestation, overfished oceans, overused cropland leading to desertification, inefficient land use from suburban sprawl, and concentration of carbon and other forms of pollution in the atmosphere in excess of nature’s ability to remove them.
And as humanity has become more populous, and as people demand more resources, this only compounds the problem. We must become less wasteful and use less resources, but we’re only going in the opposite direction.
Not every country is overshooting its capacity, though. While most of us are, we in advanced countries are pulling far more than our weight in terms of overused resources. If the whole world were to use resources at the rate of the US, we would overshoot Earth’s available resources on March 13th – with Qatar and Luxembourg being the only two countries more wasteful than the world’s largest historical polluter.
You can see each country’s ecological deficit here, or can see individual country trends over time here.
The Earth Overshoot Day organization maintains a list of solutions ranked by their potential effectiveness, measured by how many days each solution could push back Earth overshoot day in the year. The top ideas aren’t particularly surprising, save perhaps one:
Putting a price on carbon pollution (which we’ve written about before) would be the biggest improvement, since carbon pollution represents humanity’s largest impact on the ecosystem resources we have available to us. Other clear solutions like a Green New Deal, smart cities, renewable energy and directing finance towards decarbonization are obvious and necessary ones that everyone knows we need to tackle.
But the #2 solution, reproductive health for women and girls, sticks out. It may sound strange as an environmental solution, but educating girls has long been known to be the most effective way to lower birth rates in the developing world, which helps reduce overpopulation.
Many of the proposed solutions, like plant-based diets and renewable energy (via home solar) can and should be implemented by individuals on a small scale, but Earth Overshoot Day points out that:
Individuals have the power to better their homes and communities. The greatest potential for large-scale impact, however, lies with governments and businesses who align their policies and strategies with the reality of our finite planet.
But those solutions still require individuals, who must support policies or representatives who will put environmental protection first, support businesses who do the same, and make sure that their own workplaces are putting effort into these solutions. We can only solve these problems with active participation by everybody, because if everyone just waits for someone else to solve the problem, then the problem doesn’t ever get solved.
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Tesla’s Q2 results are in, and they are way, way down from Q2 of 2024. At the same time, Nissan seems to be in serious trouble and the first-ever all-electric Dodge muscle car is getting recalled because its dumb engine noises are the wrong kind of dumb engine noises. All this and more on today’s deeply troubled episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got an awesome article from Micah Toll about a hitherto unexplored genre of electric lawn equipment, a $440 million mining equipment deal, and a list of incompetent, corrupt, and stupid politicians who voted away their constituents’ futures to line their pockets.
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OpenAI is distancing itself from Robinhood‘s latest crypto push after the trading platform began offering tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe.
“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity,” OpenAI wrote on X. “We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it.”
The company said that “any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer,” and warned users to “please be careful.”
Robinhood announced the launch Monday from Cannes, France, as part of a broader product showcase focused on tokenized equities, staking, and a new blockchain infrastructure play. The company’s stock surged above $100 to hit a new all-time high following the news.
“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.
Robinhood offered 5 euros worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to eligible EU users who signed up to trade stock tokens by July 7. The assets are issued under the EU’s looser investor restrictions via Robinhood’s crypto platform.
“This is about expanding access,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and GM of crypto. “The goal with tokenization is to let anyone participate in this economy.”
The episode highlights the dynamic between crypto platforms seeking to democratize access to financial products and the companies whose names and equity are being represented on-chain
U.S. users cannot access these tokens due to regulatory restrictions.
Despite the warnings, BYD continues introducing new discounts. On Wednesday, BYD’s luxury off-road brand began offering over 50% Huawei’s smart driving tech.
BYD introduces new discounts on smart driving tech
After BYD cut prices again in May, the China Automobile Manufacturers Association (CAMA) warned that the ultra-low prices are “triggering a new round of price war panic.”
Although they didn’t single out BYD, it was pretty obvious. BYD slashed prices across 22 of its vehicles by up to 34%, triggering several automakers to follow suit in China.
BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull, typically starts at about $10,000 (66,800 yuan). After the price cuts, the Seagull is listed at under $8,000 (55,800 yuan).
It doesn’t look like China’s EV leader plans to slow down anytime soon. Fang Cheng Bao, BYD’s luxury off-road brand, introduced new discounts on Huawei’s smart driving tech on Wednesday.
The limited-time offer cuts the price of Huawei’s Qiankun Intelligent Driving High-end Function Package to just 12,000 yuan ($1,700).
Buyers who order the smart driving tech in July will save over 50% compared to its typical price of 32,000 yuan ($4,500).
Earlier this year, Fang Chang Bao launched the Tai 3, its most affordable vehicle, starting at 139,800 yuan ($19,300). The Tai 3 is about the size of the Tesla Model Y, but costs about half as much.
The Tai 3 will spearhead a new sub-brand of electric SUVs following the more premium Bao 8 and Bao 5 hybrid SUVs.
BYD’s luxury off-road brand sold 18,903 vehicles last month, up 50% from May and 605% compared to last year. Fang Cheng Bao has now sold over 10,000 vehicles for three consecutive months.
The Chinese EV giant sold 382,585 vehicles in total in June, an increase of 12% from last year. In the first half of the year, BYD’s cumulative sales reached over 2.1 million, a YOY increase of 33%.
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