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[8th of August was this year's Overconsumption Day; it is a model calculation of when humanity will use up the total global biocapacity for a given year. The data series and calculation methods are available for anyone to download from the Global Footprint Network website. We...]

[Energy drinks have been gaining unbroken popularity, especially among youngsters and children since they were introduced to the market. Manufacturers promise to improve performance and stamina with consuming the products, classified as non-alcoholic soft drinks. In addition to the vitamins and plant extracts, they contain a significant amount of caffeine and other stimulants (taurine, guarana). Among the active ingredients, caffeine has an outstanding effect and thereby a danger, since its overconsumption – in addition to milder he­mo­dynamic changes – can cause severe cardio­vascular consequences, cardiac arrhythmias, ion channel diseases, increased blood coagulation, myocardial infarction or reduced cerebral blood flow in susceptible consumers. Many case studies have also reported serious cardiovascular attacks among young chronic energy drink consumers. Health impairments of excessive and long-term consumption of energy drinks have been studied increasingly, however there is limited and contradictory evidence on the safety of consumption and the effectiveness of performance enhancement. ]

[Sustainable development aims to secure the living conditions of the next generations. Currently it fails to achieve its goal as the human destruction of ecosystem is accelerated. Institutions of the developed countries can not control the environmental crisis. The increased environmental degradation is caused by overconsumption, which is mainly driven by the widespread consumption-culture. Failure of institutional solutions drew the attention to the empowerment of communities. Aarhus Convention has legally empowered the local communities and various scientific fields examines community participation. Community Based Mental Health Services has gathered a significant knowledge about the psychosocial processes of community participation and about the participatory-culture. According to our assumption this knowledge can be used in the field of sustainable development. Besides the empowerment of the independent, local communities, concordance, affective experiencing diversity of the members, involvement of experiential experts are all important in the operation of self-organizing, responsible, local communities. We believe that the empowerment and support of eco-conscious communities is an important, new intervention in the field of sustainable development. ]