Earth Overshoot Day: How Do We Use Fewer of Our Earth’s Resources?
Demand for our earth’s resources has skyrocketed in recent years, posing a significant issue considering our resources are finite. 28th July marks Earth Overshoot Day for the year 2022, i.e., the date on which researchers have determined that humanity has used all the planet’s biological resources for the year. This means that from now on, we’re in the red, we’re in debt – we’re taking ecological resources from the planet from future years and accumulating waste.
Earth Overshoot Day was first conceived in 2006 by Andrew Simms at the UK think tank, the New Economics Foundation alongside the Global Footprint Network.
This date arriving earlier with every passing year, along with the recent heatwave, are causes for concern for everybody. Of course, governments and big companies need to make some urgent changes to rectify this, from reducing certain practices and production, empowering women and girls, protecting our oceans and forests, through to increasing our investment and use of renewable energy sources – and we know there’s a lot more. And, crucially, there are actions we can take individually and collectively to #movethedate.
Smaller businesses can do their bit to help. This can incorporate working with green suppliers and partners – including energy suppliers and the procurement of office supplies; going paper free by having everything digital; upcycling furniture for the office; reducing water waste, having virtual meetings rather than travelling face to face, and turning it all off – from lights, to laptops, to appliances. The Earth Overshoot Day website provides excellent additional ideas and tips.
At Skating Panda, we’re always learning and keen to improve, and are committed to working with individuals and organisations that set out to make real impact. As such, we’ve implemented new policies to help #movethedate.
B Corp Certification
Earlier this year, Skating Panda became B Corp certified, which involved a thorough assessment of our environmental performance. We have always kept our supply chain as environmentally sustainable as possible by working with other B Corps like Work.Life for our co-working space and those that put sustainability at their core like our insurance provider, NatureSave. We have a flexible working policy, which means we are commuting less, and when we do commute, we endeavour to use the greenest methods – walk, cycle and use public transport.
Technology Providers
Recognising that the technology industry is responsible for approximately 3.7% of greenhouse gases, we have changed our technology providers to companies that are changing the future. Currently, we are trialling phones from Honest Mobile, the UK’s only carbon negative mobile network. Honest help keep their users honest about their carbon footprint, by tracking how much CO2 they’ve removed, and how many trees are planted. We also work with reboxed, who recycle and refurbish phones, helping save hundreds of millions of used devices from lying in landfills.
Client Campaigns
Most importantly, we drive positive environmental and social change through our campaigning work, from women’s’ economic empowerment to fighting plastic pollution to improving physical and mental wellbeing. Our clients are endeavouring to build a better world- and we are proud and dedicated to aiding them in all they do.
If your business has sustainability at its core, and if the post pandemic working world has inspired you to do more to make a positive planetary impact, we’d love to hear which suppliers and partners you recommend and what you’ve actioned. We’re really keen to share ideas so that we can all work on collective change together to help #movethedate.