On a sunny Friday afternoon it’s always nice to hear that there’s no more planet left for this year. But that’s the sad case today — as of 3 pm or something, we’ve exhausted mama Gaia’s ability to give us good stuff and absorb our the crap we throw back into her.

That’s the calculation of a group called the Footprint Network, anyway, which has dubbed today Overshoot Day 2009. Hurray, let’s all get drunk! Sustainably, drunk we mean. Or let’s just hold our breaths and fast for the next 97 days. Learn to meditate maybe? Which sounds pretty hellish, actually, though we hear from friends it can be quite centering.

Our first response was that this sounds gimmicky and dumb. But we looked through the organization’s methodology paper (see link near bottom of page) and were quite impressed. There is a very, very well considered process behind the announcement of this date. It’s always nice to see some substance behind PR-driven strategies.

There is a bit of good news: It fell later this year than last year, when it was on Sept 23. That included a Leap Day, so really it’s a day later, but on the basis of a global population that’s grown 100 million or so in the meantime.

So what would a sustainable world look like? We’d be in pretty good shape if we all lived like Costa Ricans (pdf). We spent some time in that diminutive country a while back, and–back then, anyway–a sizable chunk of the population lacked basic amenities like hot water and indoor toilets. That, and the climate doesn’t require any heating. Still, it’s a comfortable enough place and certainly more comfortable than living on a planet bleached and baked and poisoned by the American lifestyle (no offense, Uncle Sam). All living like Costa Ricans is not a useful plan, admittedly–we’ll go pop open a lunchtime can of Soylent Green and try and think of a better one.