Ecological Debt Day 2024 is on Sunday, October 6, 2024: Is it possible to have high economic growth without high consumerism?

Sunday, October 6, 2024 is Ecological Debt Day 2024. Ecological Debt Day, also known as Earth Overshoot Day, is the (claimed) approximate calendar date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year.

Ecological Debt Day, also known as Earth Overshoot Day, is the (claimed) approximate calendar date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year.

Economic growth is typically measured in GDP (gross domestic product) in the US, which is defined as: the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period.

Since corporate and state spending are included in the GDP calculations, it is therefore possible to have high economic growth without high personal consumption. High personal consumption is usually the highest component, but does not have to be. You can see lately in the US a huge increase in federal government spending for the war effort, as well as for welfare and medical expenditures. This is considered economic growth by economists as expressed in GDP.

Unfortunately, this "growth" by government spending lately has meant a huge increase in our national debt as well. If the growth is financed by the issuance of Treasury Bills, then we have a day of reckoning in the future when we will have to forgo personal consumption in order to pay for the resultant increase in taxes.

In your opinion at present which Government of the world is hated the most and why?

Sadly, on this American Independence Day, the United States is perhaps the most hated government in the world, thanks to the Bush administration and the present U.S. Congress. These people are among the most evil, corrupt, and incompetent ever to occupy the White House and the Capitol Building in our nation's history.

Consider what the Bush administration, in cooperation with a cowardly and contemptible Congress, has done since 2000:

1. Illegally and unconstitutionally invaded another sovereign country that did not threaten, provoke, or attack the U.S.A.;

2. Massacred tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, including the elderly, and innocent women and children, for no justifiable reason;

3. Terrified other nations into considering nuclear weapons as their only defense against the world' newest 'evil empire' - the United States of America;

4. Initiated failed economic policies that will certainly result in a severe depression just after Bush leaves office (and then the incoming Democrats can be blamed for it);

5. Saddled American taxpayers with trillions of dollars in debt, all to finance an obscene 'war', establish a Homeland Security Department that is a national disgrace, and fund other useless projects intended only to disguise the appalling incompetence and mismanagement of our government leaders;

6. Tortured irresponsibly-detained 'prisoners', then condoned the physical, emotional, verbal, psychological, and sexual abuse of these people in total disregard for the rules of the Geneva Convention;

7. Tarnished America's reputation as a world leader and global peacekeeper;

8. Dismantled environmental laws designed to protect and preserve the delicate ecological balance between human beings, plants and other animals so that we may all co-exist and survive on this planet as nature intended;

9. Turned America into a police state wherein citizens are now presumed guilty until proven innocent;

10. Killed more than 2,500 U.S. soldiers (so far).

Not only is the U.S. Government hated by most other nations of the world, even the U.S.A.'s own citizenry hates what havoc the Bush administration has wreaked. -RKO-

What are examples of sea otters cooperating among themselves and other species?

Sea otters are the textbook example of a "keystone" carnivore. Sea otters dramatically change the structure and complexity of their ecological community. Sea otters increase diversity and productivity. By consuming 'grazers,' the animals that feed on kelp, the sea otter enhances kelp production. California kelp forests are the most diverse ecosystem of the temperate latitudes on earth. California kelp forests have some of the highest primary productivity rates (conversion of sunlight to living material) of any naturally occurring ecosystem on earth. Sea otters do not cause the local extinction of species. Abalone numbers are often high within the sea otters range. However, the abalones are restricted to deep crevices, out of reach of otter and human harvesters. It is a widely accepted ecological concept that the more diverse and complex an ecosystem, the more stable it is. Sea otters are an indicator of the health of the nearshore marine ecosystem. An indicator species is an organism that is relatively sedentary and tends to bio-magnify and/or be sensitive to contaminants. The sea otter tends to be relatively sedentary in comparison to other marine mammals. The sea otter eats a wide variety of foods. The sea otter eats large amounts of food - 25 to 35-percent of body weight per day. The sea otter is closely related to mink, a carnivore with established sensitivities to contaminants. Incidence of disease in sea otters is correlated with the contaminants tributyltin (used as an anti-fouling agent in boat paint) and DDT (a banned pesticide). High levels of other contaminants, such as PCB, are also found in sea otter tissues.The sea otter is an umbrella species. Protections given to the otter tend to 'shelter' and offer benefits to other species, habitats, and ecosystems. Sea otters have the notoriety of an 'Endangered Species'. Sea otters have broad appeal to a worldwide audience. Sea otters have proven to be an effective tool in enacting ecosystem wide protections.

Sea otters would not exist if it was not for kelp forest, and the kelp forest would not exist if it wasn’t for the Sea otter. Sea otters are what is called a keystone species. The survival of the kelp forest ecosystem depends on the Sea otter and its eating habits. Sea urchins are the otters favorite food and kelp is the sea urchins favorite food, so the Sea otter plays a critical role of controlling the population of animals like the sea urchin that graze on the kelp.