© Azote for Stockholm Resilience Centre, based on analysis in Richardson et al 2023.The new update on the Planetary Boundaries framework shows that six of the nine boundaries are transgressed.
Modern Science looks more like a Medieval Guild every day
Back in May humans did the first ever study quantifying Earth System Boundaries, which was incredible luck. After two hundred thousand years of homo sapiens stretching the bounds of the planet, we barely discovered "Earth System Boundaries" in time to find out we hit the limit 12 weeks later. What are the odds?
It's almost as if a whole twig of science was invented in order to write scary press releases? It's another unauditable, unaccountable collective of Experts who can never be wrong, only "useful" to the bureaucratic machine. They call themselves scientists but their predictions will never be tested, only marked against the Department wish-list.
We can all appreciate the talismanic symbolism (and marketing value) below, where segments of the sacred arcs are tainted blood red, as Earth progressively descends into the anthropogenic abyss year upon year.
© Azote for Stockholm Resilience Centre, based on analysis in Richardson et al 2023.The Planetary Boundaries over time.
Meanwhile the same climate models that can't predict any of the last two thousand years, or next months floods, droughts and rains — can somehow tell us exactly what the limits are on these complex systems.
Only 7,000 years ago humans survived sea levels that were one to two meters higher than today, and they did it all without a single satellite, iphone or Planetary Boundary Advisor.
It's all about respect apparently — pretty soon we'll be carving Venus figurines to protect us.
Six of nine planetary boundaries now exceededLike some people with high blood pressure, human civilization needs to go on a diet: we need fewer bureaucrats, and less government funded witchcraft.
University of Copehagen, Phys.org
A new study updates the planetary boundary framework and shows human activities are increasingly impacting the planet and, thereby, increasing the risk of triggering dramatic changes in overall Earth conditions.
For over 3 billion years, the interaction between life (represented by the planetary boundary, Biosphere Integrity) and climate have controlled the overall environmental conditions on Earth.
Respecting and maintaining interactions in the Earth system so that they remain similar to those that have controlled Earth conditions over the past ~12,000 years are critical for ensuring human activities do not trigger dramatic changes in Earth conditions — changes that likely would decrease the Earth's ability to support modern civilizations.
The Earth's 'blood pressure' is too high
The trend of increasing transgression of the boundaries is worrying explains Katherine Richardson, professor at Globe Institute, Leader of the Sustainability Science Center at the University of Copenhagen, and leader of the study, "Crossing six boundaries in itself does not necessarily imply a disaster will ensue but it is a clear warning signal. We can regard it as we do our own blood pressure. A BP over 120/80 is not a guarantee of a heart attack but it increases the risk of one. Therefore, we try to bring it down. For our own — and our children's — sakes we need to reduce the pressure on these six planetary boundaries."
REFERENCE
Katherine Richardson, Earth beyond six of nine Planetary Boundaries, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh2458. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458
Reader Comments
Maybe the article is damaged control or how does main stream science get there public integrity back by so gradually coming to their sense of responsibility towards the people..