skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Marking This Year's Ecological Deficit

play audio
Play

Monday, July 29, 2019   

PHOENIX – This is Earth Overshoot Day, the day of the year that environmental activists say humanity has used up more natural resources than the planet can replenish each year.

The ecological deficit can be blamed on pollution of the air and water, over fishing, deforestation, excess waste, and above all, overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide.

David Lin, chief science officer for the Global Footprint Network, says it's a sad day.

"So, right now we are overusing natural resources and also producing more waste than the environment can handle," he states.

Lin suggests that society urgently needs to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy, build a transportation system that relies on mass transit, and make our homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient.

In addition, he says population growth can be slowed by giving women worldwide more economic opportunity and control over their own future.

Lin says the problem of excess consumption is likely to get much worse, as the world population grows.

Right now there are 7.53 billion human beings on the planet – and that number is expected to skyrocket to 11 billion by the year 2100.

So, he says we must rearrange our cities to promote walkability and green spaces – future proof them, so to speak.

"As we head towards 11 billion, there is going to be a mass migration to cities,” he states. “So the way we structure it is going to be extremely important."

Scientists estimate that people first started using more resources than the world can produce in the 1970s. This year, the "overshoot date" is the earliest it has ever been.

People can calculate their own ecological footprint on www.footprintnetwork.org.

Disclosure: AARP Arizona contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Consumer Issues, Health Issues, Senior Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021