Humans Have Crossed 6 of 9 ‘Planetary Boundaries’
www.scientificamerican.com
Scientists analyzed nine so-called planetary boundaries and found humans are currently transgressing six
  • Taleya
    19·
    1 year ago

    Is this the point where the narrative becomes ‘too late, no point changing’ ?

      • lars@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 year ago

        I feel like there might be more to it than the line of thinking.

        But seriously, can I finally give up sorting my recycling?

  • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
    161·
    1 year ago

    TL;DR the 9 boundaries:

    1. Flow of phosphorus & nitrogen into the environment (exceeded)
    2. Atmospheric CO2 (exceeded)
    3. “Radiative forcing”, the balance of thermal energy absorbed by the sun and lost to space (exceeded)
    4. “Novel entities”, artificial chemicals eg microplastics and PFAS forever chemicals (exceeded)
    5. Land use leading to forest loss (exceeded)
    6. Freshwater use (exceeded) <— this is the latest boundary that has recently been crossed
    7. Ocean acidification
    8. Atmospheric aerosol loading
    9. Ozone depletion

    Edit: It should also be said that the reason we’ve crossed boundary 6. Freshwater is because they’ve changed the way they measure it. Now it includes “green water”, ie water that is available to plants but doesn’t enter into aquifers, and it primarily reflects a decline in this green water availability rather than in surface and ground water.