Scientists Warn: Earth pushed beyond four of nine ‘planetary boundaries’

At the rate things are going, the Earth in the coming decades could cease to be a “safe operating space” for human beings. That is the conclusion of a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science by 18 researchers trying to gauge the breaking points in the natural world.

Paper (Subscription req'd):
Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet

News Link:
Scientists: Human activity has pushed Earth beyond four of nine ‘planetary boundaries’

The paper contends that we have already crossed four “planetary boundaries.” They include the extinction rate; deforestation; the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and the flow of nitrogen and phosphorous (used on land as fertilizer) into the ocean.

“What the science has shown is that human activities — economic growth, technology, consumption – are destabilizing the global environment,” said Will Steffen, who holds appointments at the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Center and is the lead author of the paper.

This is pretty heavy stuff, the sort of dire doom porn you hear coming from conspiracy sites all the time - except it's coming from mainstream scientists, not some tinfoil youtube channel. (Of course this likely means the tinfoil crowd will now officially declare it doom porn - you know, nothing but "alarmism" designed to scare you so you stop paying attention to Planet X or Agenda 21 or whatever)...


But the fact is the majority of this information is self-explanatory: we are gouging this planet at every turn, extracting its resources at a completely unsustainable rate. Anyone can see this for themselves, in the reckless depletion of our fish stocks, rainforests, etc. It's not exactly breaking news. Yet there are very powerful people on this planet who are very invested in making sure we pay no mind to this gorilla in the room problem because they are getting ridiculously wealthy off of it.

That's why this new paper is a great example of what I think is far and away the BIGGEST conspiracy we face today - summed up by the struggle between sustainability and greed, but highlighted publicly by the PR battle being waged by industry against environmental science (and common sense).

In light of that, I have no doubt there will be a lot of deflection and hyperbole targeted at this latest "doom porn" from the scientists, but there is a very simple quote at the end of the WP article that puts thingss into perspective:

“There’s a lot of emotion involved in this. If you think about it, the American ethic is, ‘The sky’s the limit.’ And here you have people coming on and saying, no it isn’t, the Earth’s the limit,”

If it isn't clear yet that our soul purpose on this planet is to destroy it then I really do not know what else can convince people.

Give me ONE realistic scenario that will turn us off our present course of consumption and pollution that we call "growth". It has to end bad.

Remember before the start of the 21st century, we used to imagine the future and how cool it was going to be?

WTF happened?

a reply to: mc_squared

I'm trying to edit the OP because I screwed up the link to the original paper, but when I hit 'edit' it re-posted the entire OP again as a new thread, so here is the link proper:

Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet

a reply to: MALBOSIA

Personally I couldn't wait for hoverboards and flying cars ala Back to the Future II, and yet here we are in 2015 and nada...


As for a realistic example - well the WP article references one optimistic precedent:

The ozone boundary is the best example of world leaders responding swiftly to a looming environmental disaster. After the discovery of an expanding ozone hole caused by man-made chemicals, chlorofluorocarbons, the nations of the world banned CFCs in the 1980s.

But yeah, this is a lot bigger/more complicated than that. I think we do have the capacity to implement solutions personally - the industry I work in (renewable energy) is doing this right now, but more people have to get on board, and specifically wake the f*** up.

Human race see world is here as a natural resource to do as we please. The world is this small life boat carrying us and we continually curse and damn it. A person can sense in their bones that what may bring down the human race is the ego that we can do what we like and sought the mess out later.

I figured this would have something to do with the increasing mass of the earth causing it to exit the orbit of the sun's "habitable zone"... anyway... nice avatar...

originally posted by: mc_squared
a reply to: MALBOSIA

Personally I couldn't wait for hoverboards and flying cars ala Back to the Future II, and yet here we are in 2015 and nada...


As for a realistic example - well the WP article references one optimistic precedent:

The ozone boundary is the best example of world leaders responding swiftly to a looming environmental disaster. After the discovery of an expanding ozone hole caused by man-made chemicals, chlorofluorocarbons, the nations of the world banned CFCs in the 1980s.

But yeah, this is a lot bigger/more complicated than that. I think we do have the capacity to implement solutions personally - the industry I work in (renewable energy) is doing this right now, but more people have to get on board, and specifically wake the f*** up.

The profiteers have to get on board and use their bloody imagination (no pun intended) We are using the same fuels we were 100 years ago, the same constructions, the same production line mentality, the same everything. These people are so weak in the brain and they are going to get us all killed.

I truly believe that chemtrails were an attempt to slow the acceleration of global warming. That is how these peoples brains work. Lets use MORE extracted material to battle the effects of the other extracted material.

Like tobacco. They lace tobacco with chemicals to get it to cure and burn quicker. Forget the fact that it can be smoked fine without all the additives. They get legislated to make them extinguish quicker to help prevent forest fires so what do they do? Add MORE chemicals to retard it. (Pardon the pun) and the medical industry probably pitches in on the legal and lobbying costs because it brings them hella work.

So if I can take a Lyric from Canada's greatest export - RUSH...

"The men who hold high places, must be the ones to start..."

a reply to: mc_squared

Ha! The human race heeds no warning. We have been busily crapping where we eat for generations without looking back. The fun thing about this is that once we have poisoned ourselves into extinction, nature will recover and heal itself and move right on along WITHOUT US, and the planet will be a better place.

originally posted by: MALBOSIA
If it isn't clear yet that our soul purpose on this planet is to destroy it then I really do not know what else can convince people.

Give me ONE realistic scenario that will turn us off our present course of consumption and pollution that we call "growth". It has to end bad.

Remember before the start of the 21st century, we used to imagine the future and how cool it was going to be?

WTF happened?

The carrot and the stick dangled before you. Heres where that is leading…

Image

a reply to: MALBOSIA

I agree with you that the problem starts upstairs - because yeah, greed, money, all that. I have always said this is the inherent problem with capitalism: it's supposed to reward the most ambitious, industrious, hard-working in society - but in reality it's the ones that are willing to cut corners, lie, cheat, steal, step on their own mothers' backs that make it to the top, and then they use those same devices to stay there. This is why gov't and business leaders are generally a bunch of unmitigated sociopaths.

But also because of this - that's why I firmly believe the solution starts with us and not "them". I would never count on these people to pull us out of this flaming tailspin.

But what a lot of people need to realize is we do have the power to fix it ourselves - there are waaay more of us than there are of them, we just need to start speaking in unison as consumers, voters, workers etc. The solutions are out there, but they require a paradigm shift in public attitude and acceptance.

That's the tricky part, especially when the ones upstairs are doing everything they can to prevent us from seeing that.

originally posted by: SwissMarked
I figured this would have something to do with the increasing mass of the earth causing it to exit the orbit of the sun's "habitable zone"... anyway... nice avatar...

That was the first thing that came to my mind with mining the moon or Mars. Like, " does this stuff belong here?"

With humans though, we consume from the same weight as we take up. I think everything under the atmosphere, is what has been under it since we got it. Don't quote me on that, I don't even know where to start looking that up. I think everything just changes its structure, state, whatever, but it's still here and has always been here....fook, you got me wondering now. What we excrete breaks down but later builds up. What we consume builds up but later breaks down... yeah I think we are good. Right?

a reply to: mc_squared

It may take a major environmental catastrophe that results in massive human casualties before the masses wake up. Fukushima just gave the oil industry more credibility....most Americans are unaware of what is still happening in Japan.

The oligarchy will do what the want to protect their profits until there are no more resources to exploit or said catastrophe occurs and the masses wake up. I do not think an intellectual revolution will occur, seems less likely with each passing day.

We can do better as a species.

If they have NOT mentioned the impending death of the Pacific Ocean, due to 3/11, the paper is just BS.

originally posted by: mc_squared

But also because of this - that's why I firmly believe the solution starts with us and not "them". I would never count on these people to pull us out of this flaming tailspin.

You said it yourself, they have tools to stay where they are. Even individually their tactics are impressive, on a semi-cooperating global scale it is mind boggling.

It is not just tricky, it is impossible to have any sort of executable to any initiative to change anything that alter our course to anything less greedy.

If it can happen, it would have to be on some (moment I wish I had a better vocabulary ahead) mass interhuman sub-concious behavior... like the monkeys and the islands lol... whatever. The only way we would get them by surprise if if we didn't even know about it. Bottom line (I don't know what is up with these puns tonight).

Edit to add. I guess we will see. If we are survivors and meant to be here, something will happen that will end this madness. If not...

originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: mc_squared
I do not think an intellectual revolution will occur, seems less likely with each passing day.

I still like to believe in one, because it's really the only thing that gives me any hope, but yeah then I usually come to ATS and read the majority of responses to climate change threads for example, I start to wonder if we're maybe better off letting it burn instead...

And you're probably right about a major event being needed to finally wake people up - but so much of this falls into the "boiled frog" category. It amazes me though how many people can sit boiling in their own piss basically, and seriously think everything's still hunky-dory.

It seems that places like China have started to wake up a bit, now that they have to broadcast the Sun so everyone remembers what it looks like:




But if this is what it takes for the world in general to get with the program, then we're definitely FUBAR.

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: MALBOSIA
If it isn't clear yet that our soul purpose on this planet is to destroy it then I really do not know what else can convince people.

Give me ONE realistic scenario that will turn us off our present course of consumption and pollution that we call "growth". It has to end bad.

Remember before the start of the 21st century, we used to imagine the future and how cool it was going to be?

WTF happened?

The carrot and the stick dangled before you. Heres where that is leading…

Image

I'm a little creeped out right now. Just sayin.

a reply to: mc_squared

It gets tougher for me, especially with a Bush Vs Hillary presidential looming.

The solutions are out there, but they require a paradigm shift in public attitude and acceptance.

These forums can be depressing, it almost seems like the oil cartels pay people to spread their drill baby drill propaganda on forums like these.

a reply to: MALBOSIA

I think solar power, and the freedom that comes with distributed energy generation, is a shining example (damn those puns) of how people can start to come around.

This is one issue that has even managed to bring the far lefties and righties together:

Tea Party’s Green Faction Fights for Solar in Red States

But the hurdle is definitely looking past all the establishment propaganda and just relying on personal critical thinking instead. This is unfortunately a lot easier said than done for many people though for sure.

I guess what kills me the most is we have so many political “leaders” who are blatant science-deniers. They’re supposed serve the people and ensure our best interests. Instead, their pockets are lined by their corporate gods, while the welfare of the nation is an afterthought. Regardless, we keep voting them back into office time after time. It’s amazing. These crooks will look voters/constituents straight in the eye and espouse the most repugnant, outrageous, vile crap imaginable, all to a standing ovation and another 4 years of employment.

So, I guess it’s our own damned fault. I don’t think we, as a society, value science anymore. We’ve become so complacent that no matter how dire the situation, as long as it’s not beating us over the head and bludgeoning us RIGHT NOW, then we don’t give a hoot. We’ll worry about tomorrow tomorrow. If the apocalypse were to be scheduled for tomorrow at 7 PM and, consequently, it interrupted Duck Dynasty, you may see the majority of Americans get a little riled. Otherwise, not a peep.

It’s too bad we don’t seem to take these things seriously anymore. Another thought I just had is that maybe we’ve come to a point where we assume that no matter what the problem is technology will somehow come to the rescue and save us. I love technology, but that could be a fatal assumption.

Anyway, I don’t have the answers, but I share your concern...

originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: mc_squared
it almost seems like the oil cartels pay people to spread their drill baby drill propaganda on forums like these.

They do. But they don't need to pay them - they get guerrilla sock puppets for free: