Isamu Noguchi, "Quasite,"

Aji Granite, 28,5 x 20,3 x 21,5 cm.

Courtesy: Christie's

YR Pavilion, Vitacura, Chile,

Elton Leniz Arquitectos + Cruz-Mandiola Arquitectura & Objetos

August 2 is Earth overshoot day 2023 !

Earth Overshoot Day (EOD) marks when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate during that year. 

Today is Earth Overshoot Day 2023, the Earth Overshoot Day calculated every year by Global Footprint Network using data from National Footprint and Biocapacity Accountswhich indicates the official depletion of renewable resources that the planet is able to offer within a year.

This means that today, August 2, humanity has already “finished” all the resources that Nature produces in an entire year and is starting to go into debt. Humanity, with its over 8 billion inhabitants, consumes in excessive quantities, beyond the natural regeneration (and reabsorption) capacities of the planet.

In 1973 Overshoot Day fell on December 3: we were just a few days over our annual budget. In 2003, September 12, in 2013, August 3. The date has always been getting ahead and our ecological debt has grown.

Globally we are consuming the equivalent of 1.7 Planets a year, an ominous figure that is expected to rise to two planets by 2030, based on current trends. In the last 5 years the trend seems to have stabilized, but it is difficult to establish whether this is due to the slowdown of the economy or to decarbonisation efforts. However, the reduction of our “debt” to the planet is still too slow. To achieve the United Nations IPCC goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 (compared to 2010) it would be necessary to move Earth Overshoot Day forward by 19 days per year for next seven years.

According to the WWF there are many solutions that can be adopted at the community level or individually to have a significant impact on the type of future we invest in: for example if we used energy from 75% renewable sources we could move the Overshhot day by 26 days ; halving food waste would save 13 days.

“If up until the 1960s humanity was more or less in balance, the date has moved from year to year up the calendar, to arrive today at the beginning of August. This means that humanity has been in ecological overshoot for over 50 years and the debt we have accumulated amounts to 19 years of planetary production, i.e. what Earth’s ecosystems can regenerate in 19 years. The burden of this debt, which is set to increase, is starting to reduce economic options. The loss of biodiversity, the growing unpredictability of the weather and the depletion of groundwater are just a few symptoms. But overcoming itself is not inevitable. Constantly living beyond the physical possibilities of our planet is a limited possibility in time, we risk an ecological disaster: the goods and services that are the basis of our societies and economies are all produced by functioning and healthy ecosystems. We now have many targeted solutions to reverse the overexploitation of resources and support the regeneration of the biosphere in which we live”.

Shuhada' Sadaqat (8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023)

Sinéad O'Connor is widely regarded as one of the most influential female performers of the 90s, not only for her sensational performances and raw vocal emotion but also for her outspoken confidence to express herself publicly.

Sinéad was born in Dublin in 1966, and was discovered by Paul Byrne, drummer of U2 protégés In Tua Nua, while singing wedding covers in the city. After co-writing the first In Tua Nua single, she left school to focus on music, studying voice and piano at the Dublin College of Music. She relocated to London in 1985.

Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra produced two alternative hits ‘Troy’ and ‘Mandinka’ and would go on to be one of 1987’s most critically acclaimed LPs. Follow up, 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got confirmed her as a major artist with the Prince-written Nothing Compares 2 U reaching number 1 in the UK, the US and globally.

A series of public gestures have tended to interrupt the critical focus on O’Connor’s artistry including her infamous performance on SNL where she ripped up a photograph of Pope John Paul II. However, Sinéad’s ability to move through Pop, Rock, Folk, Reggae and incorporate multiple influences into her complex and powerful sound is in evidence all throughout her now three-decade long career.

Her death comes a year after the mother-of-four's son Shane, 17, took his own life in January 2022 after escaping hospital while on suicide watch. 

Farewell, beloved one...