Is the Earth becoming uninhabitable for humans?
A new study published in Science Advances on Wednesday suggests that “Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity.”
The study used nine different metrics of the Earth’s health and found that the planet had surpassed its “safe operating space” in six of the nine measurements (referred to in the study as “planetary boundaries”).
“We are in very bad shape,” Johan Rockstrom, co-author of the study and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told The Associated Press. “We show in this analysis that the planet is losing resilience and the patient is sick.”
What are the 9 planetary boundaries?
The planetary boundaries were first proposed by climate scientists in a 2009 article published in Ecology & Society. The article, entitled “Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity,” proposed a “new approach to global sustainability in which we define planetary boundaries within which we expect that humanity can operate safely.”
Crossing these boundaries increases the risk of causing “large-scale abrupt or irreversible environmental changes,” according to the Stockholm Resilience Centre,
Those nine planetary boundaries are:
- Climate change.
- Novel entities (the release of novel chemicals).
- Stratospheric ozone depletion.
- Atmospheric aerosol loading.
- Ocean acidification.
- Biogeochemical flows.
- Freshwater change.
- Land-system change.
- Biosphere integrity.
Which planetary boundaries have been crossed?
According to the new 2023 study, six out of the nine planetary boundaries have been transgressed.
The six boundaries that have been crossed include:
- Climate change.
- Novel entities (the release of novel chemicals).
- Biogeochemical flows.
- Freshwater change.
- Land-system change.
- Biosphere integrity.
However, both ocean acidification and aerosol loading (air pollution) are well on their way to exceeding the boundary.
The chart below from Stockholm Resilience Centre indicates which boundaries have been crossed:
In 2009, three boundaries had been crossed, with another boundary crossed in 2015. In eight short years, two additional boundaries were crossed, showing the rapid rate at which the Earth’s health is being affected by climate change.
