Calay News
A new report has revealed that humanity continues to push the planet’s ecological limits, with six of the nine “planetary limits” that help define Earth’s ability to regenerate and sustain life as we know it already being surpassed.
The six limits that have been surpassed include climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, the amount of synthetic chemicals such as plastics, freshwater scarcity, and the balance of the nitrogen cycle. Ocean acidification and the concentration of fine particles in the atmosphere are also on the way to being overcome. The only limit that is in a good situation is that of the ozone layer.
These “planetary boundaries” refer to critical milestones that must not be crossed to ensure a safe and habitable environment for humanity on Earth. They were established in 2009 by the Stockholm Resilience Center and have become increasingly prominent in climate change reporting.
The study’s lead author, Katherine Richardson, highlighted that these limits are essential to maintaining the living conditions that have prevailed on Earth for the past 10,000 years, a period in which humanity and civilization developed.
The report, which represents the second major update since 2015, reveals a worrying trend in which most limits are not evolving in the right direction. The lack of progress on these limits threatens the resilience of ecosystems and the stability of the Earth system, experts warn. Despite some efforts, humanity faces a growing challenge to reverse these trends and ensure a sustainable future on the planet.
