If the world consumed its ecological resources in the same way as Germany, the planet's limits would already be reached today - under these conditions we would need three earths, which we don't have!

The Earth Overshoot Day is calculated annually by the think tank globalfootprintnetwork using the so-called biocapacity. It shows particularly impressively that we are living beyond our means.

In an international comparison, we fare badly: Germany is in the top quarter of the most wasteful nations. Although many countries also live beyond their means, we Germans eat too much fish and meat, cut down too many trees, produce too much waste and, above all, emit too much CO2.

Unfortunately, the global congestion day has also been moving further forward in the year for decades and is now at the end of July instead of October as it was at the turn of the millennium. This is at the expense of nature, the climate and future generations, who will have to bear the consequences of our actions.

How can we manage to stay within our planetary boundaries? One solution to reduce overuse could be the circular economy. I will be discussing exactly how this should work and, above all, what the chances of success are in the panel I am moderating at BeyondGrowth2023 on May 16 from 2:30 pm in the European Parliament with renowned experts such as the inventor of the cradle to cradle concept Prof. Michael Braungart and Kate Raworth from Oxford University, the founder of the donut economy. Representatives from the European Commission and business will also be speaking. I'm really looking forward to it!

You can register in person and online here: https://www.beyond-growth-2023.eu/registration/. The entire program of the three-day conference on planetary boundaries can also be found there.