For years, development has been at odds with our environment. With increasing economic and industrial growth, the environment has taken a back seat in terms of our priorities. Of course, efforts have been made to reverse these effects but there is no general consensus on how to achieve environmental stability. There have been scattered efforts to save the environment, but at a global scale, we are just consuming Earth’s resources way faster than the Earth can replenish them.
One way to measure the impact of human development on the environment is the notion of planetary boundaries developed by the Stockholm Resilience Institute.
Watch Johan Rockström’s 2010 TED talk on the planetary boundaries.
As is evident in the video, there are 4 ‘squeezes’ on this planet which are leading to the depletion of our environment:
- Population growth
- Climate change
- Ecosystem decline
- Surprise element
These have lead to the crossing of four of the 9 planetary boundaries:
- Climate change
- Loss of biosphere integrity
- Land-system change
- Altered biogeochemical cycles (phosphorus and nitrogen)
Here is how each of the ‘squeeze’ is linked to the crossing of the 4 planetary boundaries:
Population Growth
The discussion surrounding population has been going on for a long time now. And the idea of having a limited number of children and better availability of services regarding reproductive health have taken over most of the countries in the world, even the developing ones. According to one study, the number of children in the world has peaked at 2 billion. Hence, the human population will peak at 11 billion by 2100 (more on that in a later articles). Therefore, if we want the Earth to support such a population, we need to bring some drastic changes in our lifestyle. Population growth can be loosely linked to the crossing of almost all of the four planetary boundaries, as more population means requirement of more resources and services.
Climate Change
Our actions have long led to global warming and the alterations in climate patterns all around the world. Again, it is true that there are steps being taken to counter it but until and unless everyone realises the gravity of the situation and does not start taking steps on their level, it is only going to get worse. And, guess what, the longer we ignore the problem of climate change, the more expensive it gets to combat it.
Climate change is also responsible for loss of biosphere integrity, as global warming is forcing animals to migrate and if they are unable to adjust to the rapidly changing circumstances, they end up becoming extinct.
Ecosystem Decline
We’re living in an era of ecological overshoot. It occurs when humanity’s demand on nature exceeds what ecosystems can supply. In other words, when we use more natural resources than the biosphere can regenerate. Earth Overshoot Day is the day of the year when we have used up one year’s supply of “nature”. In 2019 “Earth Overshoot Day” was July 29 meaning that from that day humanity lived beyond the ecological capacity of planet earth. Every year the day arrives a little earlier… In 2012 the day was August 22, in 2009 it was September 25. This year, it is estimated to fall on August 22 (same as 2012), due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, true sustainability that allows all to thrive on Earth can only be achieved by design, not disaster.
Ecosystem decline directly affects climate change (they feed off each other), biosphere integrity and also land-system change.
Surprise Element
This ‘surprise’ occurs from most of the people not realising the fact that ecosystem change does not occur in incremental, linear, or predictable (and controllable) ways. Instead, it changes in non-linear ways as a response to disturbance regimes, often abruptly and irreversibly. These changes occur due to events like major shifts in forests or marine systems after fires and storms, among others. Stewardship of ecosystems that adapt to surprise requires redundancy and buffering capacity in order to build resilience to shocks and disturbance, which reduces the operating space for human development (Chapin et al. 2010).
The alteration in the biogeochemical cycles of phosphorus and nitrogen is largely due to the extensive use of chemical fertilisers and irresponsible discharging of sewage and industrial waste. Climate change also plays a role in it.
Henceforth, it is utterly important to respect the planetary boundaries for development to happen without degrading the environment. What really intrigues me is how people had already put such rock solid frameworks in front of the world, years ago, sometimes even decades, but still, little has been done along those lines to move towards a more sustainable future. Maybe awareness is the problem. Early on, we didn’t really know how bad the situation was, but now, we’re just being ignorant.
Links to references:
https://www.theworldcounts.com/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890077/
“Planetary Boundaries do not dictate how human societies should develop but they can aid decision-makers by defining a safe operating space for humanity”
Katherine Richardson
Sparsh's Blog 