Planetary boundaries and humanity’s struggle to prevent collapse

Just a month after publishing a paper describing how the livestock industry is threateningly violating various planetary boundaries, professor Klaus Hubacek of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands returns to duty with a new global warning: “Maintaining a certain rate of global consumption” borders.”

The rationale for the current study, recently published in the journal Nature, is simple: to examine how far humanity has come so far in terms of planetary boundaries, and what needs to change to continue to exceed those boundaries. There’s a basic calculation involved in the research: “Given a certain number of people on the planet and the limits of the planet, how much can we consume to stay within those limits?” We ask the writers.

The research is actually based on a balance: how much land, water and other resources are demanded by the planet’s eight billion inhabitants, and how can we adapt the lifestyles of these resource consumers so that they do not exceed the limits set by the Earth? can you offer? In his statement, Hubacek says this is possible with “policies based on scientific evidence.”

Planetary boundaries

In 2009, scientists Johan Rockström and Will Steffen identified nine basic planetary boundaries. Didactically, these signs represent a threshold; If exceeded, it could cause irreversible damage to the integrity of the Earth system.

Planetary boundaries, that is, the amount of human consumption the Earth can handle, include a variety of indicators such as ocean acidification, global freshwater use, biodiversity loss, and chemical pollution, among others. The truth is that by 2023, six of these planetary boundaries have already been breached.

The negative effects of this have been felt to a greater or lesser extent by every inhabitant of the planet. Accelerating CO2 concentration has caused climate change, reflected in extreme events such as rising global temperaturesMelting polar ice caps and rising ocean levels are having profound effects on ecosystems and planetary biodiversity.

The effects of rich and poor on planetary boundaries

The enormous disproportion in climate responsibility between the world’s rich and poor has been a central theme of Hubacek’s work. For example, it shows that the richest 1 percent of the world’s population produces 50 times more greenhouse gases than the four billion people in the poorest 50 percent.

The researcher explores this issue in detail in another paper recently published in Nature. To do this, it uses a comprehensive data set covering 201 consumer groups in 168 countries. Finally, an individual analysis of the impact of spending patterns on each of the six environmental indicators is performed.

Observing how various consumer behaviors lead to violations on the planet, the authors conclude that if 20% of the world’s largest consumers changed their habits to more sustainable standards, They will reduce environmental impact by 25% to 53%. Even if the changes are limited to the food and service sectors, they could bring boundaries across the planet to safe levels.

Can humanity still remain within planetary boundaries?

Although he is interested in identifying threats to the planet’s borders as soon as they identify solutions, Hubacek recognizes that these violations will not stop while “most governments support bad behavior.” for him There is no point in continuing to create new technical alternatives if no one implements the solutions that have already been put forward theoretically..

For example, the creation of carbon taxes and carbon trading schemes is clearly offset by the continuation of global fossil fuel subsidies.

Even though his studies show that hope is not lost, Hubacek says that he does his research out of academic interest and warns: “I don’t want to waste my time on something that doesn’t make sense. What we really need.” are evidence-based policies.”

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