A supermoon for Earth Overshoot Day

Hi friend,

Earth Overshoot Day passed us by on 2 August.

It was the day that humanity exhausted nature’s budget for the year and exceeded its capacity to regenerate. It was also the day that we marked the first full moon of a rare blue moon cycle, which happens once every 2.7 years.

It's almost as if the universe is trying to send us a message: the rarity of a blue moon mirrors the urgent situation we find ourselves in.

Our relentless consumption has pushed Earth into the red and we’re living on borrowed time.

Earth Overshoot Day has been getting earlier since the 1970s, and this year’s D-Day arrived three weeks earlier than last year.

Yet, while Mother Nature plays a game of catch-up that she can never win, the UK has decided to amplify its oil game in the North Sea and "max out on black gold”, while UNESCO throws around the idea of putting Venice on the endangered places list.

How can we be so divided on this issue?

The coincidence of the blue moon cycle starting on Earth Overshoot Day might be the nudge we need to reflect on our relationship with our environment.

Experts estimate that at our current rate of consumption, it would take 1.7 Earths to produce and regenerate all the resources we use today. We can't create more Earths, but we can make the one we have last longer.

— Tarryn ✌️

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This week's climate and sustainability news worth noting

😒 The UK will grant “hundreds” of new licenses for oil and natural gas exploration in the North Sea in an attempt to “max out” opportunities in the region. According to Uplift and Oceana, 96 of the 115 applications made under the UK’s 33rd oil and gas licensing round are in marine protected areas. The government will also approve drilling at the UK’s largest untapped reserves in the Rosebank field, and support two major plans for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and factories, and injecting the gas into depleted reservoirs under the North Sea. In protest, Greenpeace activists draped “oil black” fabric over UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire mansion 👏.

🚨 Meanwhile, leaders in other parts of the world are demanding urgent action to address climate change. Presidents from six European countries, including Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Malta, and Portugal, released a joint statement saying: "Extreme natural phenomena are destroying the ecosystem and threatening our daily life, our way of life. There is no more time to waste, no more time to compromise for political or economic reasons. All Mediterranean countries must coordinate and react, engage in a collective effort to halt and reverse the effects of the climate crisis.” The statement did not offer ideas to deal with the crisis.

🇮🇹 The United Nations culture agency, UNESCO, wants to include Venice and its lagoon on its World Heritage in Danger list, saying the city had not made enough progress in preventing damage from mass tourism, climate change and development projects. UNESCO’s recommendation will go to a vote next month at the World Heritage Committee.

❌ The Group of 20 (G20) major nations failed to agree on concrete targets to cut dangerous emissions. Members could not agree on depleting carbon budgets, historical emissions, net-zero goals, and the issue of financing to support developing countries.

🔥 Forest fires in Canada this year have released 290 million tonnes of carbon, doubling a previous annual record. With fires still burning, emissions are expected to rise even further. The estimated Canadian fire emissions account for over 25% of the global total for 2023 to date.

🌀 Wild weather: Twenty dead, hundreds trapped, and tens of thousands evacuated as China’s capital, Beijing, floods. Typhoon Khanun also wreaked havoc in Japan and Taiwan. Iran declared a two-day holiday for government workers and banks amid a heatwave. Wildfires in California’s Mojave national preserve spread out of control and into Nevada. South Korea raised the hot weather warning to its highest, the first time in four years. Temperatures soar to 37C in Chile, in the middle of winter.

And in business news

🤑 BP has reported profits of US$2.6 billion for the second quarter. Despite a US$6 billion decrease in profits from the same period last year, BP will increase shareholder dividends by 10% because you gotta keep the investors happy!

✅ The European Union's executive body has published final rules for corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures. The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) flesh out the bloc's corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) that large companies will have to apply in annual reports for 2024.

Well, that's interesting

Ever heard the phrase, “once in a blue moon” to refer to something that doesn’t happen very often?

The phrase refers to the appearance of a second full moon within a calendar month, which happens about once every 2.7 years. Lucky for us, the next blue moon is happening this month – around 30-31 August.

Ironically, the first supermoon, a sturgeon moon, appeared on 2 August – Earth Overshoot Day. The second moon, the blue moon, will show up around 30-31 August.

Unfortunately, the moon doesn’t actually turn blue. And there won’t be another one until May 2026.

And just to show off, the universe will also be gifting us with a meteor shower on 12-13 August. So, if you’re lucky enough to live close to a dark sky in the Northern Hemisphere, try check it out. No telescope needed.

One small thing you can do

Turn down the brightness on your monitor.

Turning down your monitor’s brightness from 100% to 70% can reduce its energy consumption by 20%.

Because lots of little actions combined can add up to something remarkable.

I'll leave you on this happy note...

Monkeys react to magic.

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