The article "Tracking the Ecological Overshoot of the Human Economy" by Mathis Wackernagel et al. examines the extent to which human activities have exceeded the Earth's regenerative capacity. The authors develop an accounting framework to measure human demand on the planet's bioproductive capacity, comparing it to the biological capacity of the globe. They find that human demand has likely surpassed the Earth's capacity since the 1980s, with a 20% overshoot in 1999. The study identifies six major human activities—cropping, grazing, timber harvesting, fishing, infrastructure, and fossil fuel burning—that require biologically productive space. The authors use a comprehensive resource accounting approach, adjusting land and sea areas based on their bioproductivities and expressing them in standardized global hectares (gha). They also consider the importance of biodiversity for ecosystem resilience and the need to reserve a significant portion of biologically productive areas for conservation. The study highlights the relevance of these accounts to economic analysis, suggesting that they can inform policy decisions and guide strategies toward sustainability.The article "Tracking the Ecological Overshoot of the Human Economy" by Mathis Wackernagel et al. examines the extent to which human activities have exceeded the Earth's regenerative capacity. The authors develop an accounting framework to measure human demand on the planet's bioproductive capacity, comparing it to the biological capacity of the globe. They find that human demand has likely surpassed the Earth's capacity since the 1980s, with a 20% overshoot in 1999. The study identifies six major human activities—cropping, grazing, timber harvesting, fishing, infrastructure, and fossil fuel burning—that require biologically productive space. The authors use a comprehensive resource accounting approach, adjusting land and sea areas based on their bioproductivities and expressing them in standardized global hectares (gha). They also consider the importance of biodiversity for ecosystem resilience and the need to reserve a significant portion of biologically productive areas for conservation. The study highlights the relevance of these accounts to economic analysis, suggesting that they can inform policy decisions and guide strategies toward sustainability.