NEW From yearning for a change to cost of living, why some Canadians have left or may leave the country
For some immigrants, their dreams of permanently settling in Canada have taken an unexpected twist.
Humans have already used up Earth's natural resources for the year at a pace faster than the planet can regenerate them, a natural resources research organization says.
On August 2, 2023, the world marked Earth Overshoot Day, which signals the depletion of the planet's ecological resources for the year.
Every day from today to the end of 2023, humans will carry a debt by continuing to take from nature and accumulating waste like carbon dioxide, according to data in a report from research organization the Global Footprint Network.
The demand we put on the environment has outpaced how the environment can regenerate those resources; like wood, water and plants.
The Global Footprint Network has marked Earth Overshoot Day each year since 1971.
"During the pandemic when we weren’t using quite as many resources, we actually did better, but now we're back to where we started," Eric Miller, director of the Ecological Footprint Initiative in York’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, said in a news release.
At the height of the pandemic, in 2020, the planet hit Earth Overshoot Day on Aug. 16, the latest it hit that milestone since 2009.
Miller said Earth Overshoot Day is like a bank account: one that humans have "once again" overdrawn. Instead of money, it is natural resources that humanity has used up.
"Seven months into the year and the account is empty," he told CTVNews.ca in an interview. "When we draw more from nature that can be renewed in a period of a year, then we end up into sort of overshoot or overdraft."
The Global Footprint Network calculates the planet's biocapacity (the amount of ecological resources Earth is able to generate that year) and divides it by humanity's ecological footprint. Multiplying that number by 365 gives that year's Earth Overshoot Day.
The earliest humanity depleted Earth's resources for the year was Aug. 1, in 2018 and again in 2022, the Global Footprint Network says.
When researchers started calculating, the first Earth Overshoot Day was measured on Dec. 25, 1971, marking only a week where humans outpaced the environment.
Canadians experience what feels like an endless supply of water, trees and plants due to the amount of space the country has.
But Miller says treating these resources as finite is part of the issue.
"On a per-person basis, we have twice the ecological footprint as the average person in Germany," he said. "What's really significant for Canada is not only do we have a very high ecological footprint related to all the stuff that we consume, but it's even higher in terms of all the stuff that we produce."
Canada's ecological footprint involves the sum of several components, Miller said, including cropland, grazing land, fishing grounds, building and infrastructure and forestry.
"We in Canada are 16th in the world on a per-person basis in terms of the ecological footprint of our consumption," Miller said. "We're sixth in the world in terms of what we call biocapacity, which is the amount of ecological footprint that can be sustained in terms of regenerative potential."
Trading of Canada's natural resources like timber is increasing the country's footprint.
"We're sort of well known for exporting a lot of timber products (and) fossil fuels," Miller said. "In exchange, we import software licenses and online streaming videos and that kind of stuff, which has a relatively lower footprint."
What is important to note about Canada's ecological footprint is that it contributes to whether the country can meet its "ambitious" net zero 2050 emission target, he said.
"Remaining greenhouse gas emissions that we emit in that year would have to be soaked up by the planet's capacity to do that in that same year," Miller said. "So there's no net increase in the stock of emissions in the atmosphere."
For some immigrants, their dreams of permanently settling in Canada have taken an unexpected twist.
Studies have shown that ultraprocessed foods can have a detrimental impact on health. But 30 years of research show they don’t all have the same impact.
Forging ahead with increasing Canada's capital gains inclusion rate 'sows division,' and is a 'shortsighted' way to improve the deficit, business groups are warning Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
An Ontario man considering having his driveway paved received a quote from a company for $7,000, but then, another paver in the neighbourhood knocked on his door and offered half that rate.
Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand Thursday in Donald Trump's hush money trial as the defence tries to undermine the credibility of the porn actor's salacious testimony about their alleged sexual encounter and the money she was paid to keep quiet.
Amid evidence of rising breast cancer rates among young women in Canada, one Toronto startup is offering a contactless and radiation-free device that can help doctors identify suspicious changes in breast tissue. The company, Linda Lifetech, says this can lead to earlier detection of breast cancer.
Forecasters warned a wave of dangerous storms in the U.S. could wash over parts of the South early Thursday, a day after severe weather with damaging tornadoes and large hail killed at least three people in the region.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
There is currently a whooping cough epidemic in Europe, with 10 times as many cases compared to the previous two years. While an outbreak has not been declared nationwide in Canada, whooping cough is regularly detected in the country.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.