Earth Overshoot Day 2018: Humans have already used up the planet's resources for the year

Humankind is using resources more quickly than the Earth can replenish them, and August 1 is an important date to illustrate that.

Wednesday is Earth Overshoot Day, the day on which we have already used up the resources Earth can replenish in a year, AccuWeather explains.

We'd need 1.7 Earths to maintain our current habits. Since we only have one, Earth Overshoot Day raises awareness of our consumption level.

In order to change the consumption level, overfishing, forest overharvesting and high CO2 emissions need to be reduced, AccuWeather reports.

If we make changes, we have the potential to return to using resources at a rate that the planet can regenerate them by 2050.