Earth 'well outside safe operating space for humanity', scientists find

[OKIsItJustMe]

Source: The Guardian

First complete ‘scientific health check’ shows most global systems beyond stable range in which modern civilisation emerged

Damian Carrington Environment editor
@dpcarrington
Wed 13 Sep 2023 14.00 EDT

Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside of the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned.

Their assessment found that six out of nine “planetary boundaries” had been broken because of human-caused pollution and destruction of the natural world. The planetary boundaries are the limits at which key global systems, such as climate, water and wildlife diversity, beyond which these systems’ ability to maintain a healthy planet is in serious peril.

The broken boundaries mean the systems have been driven far from the safe and stable state that existed from the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, to the start of the industrial revolution. The whole of modern civilisation arose in this time period, called the Holocene.

The assessment was the first of all nine planetary boundaries and represented the “first scientific health check for the entire planet”, the researchers said. Six boundaries have been passed and two are judged to be close to being broken: air pollution and ocean acidification. The one boundary that is not threatened is atmospheric ozone, after action to phase out destructive chemicals in recent decades led to the ozone hole shrinking.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/earth-well-outside-safe-operating-space-for-humanity-scientists-find

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http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458