The first ever pulse check of the planet’s health shows that the Earth is far beyond it’s safe operating space for humanity. Six of nine key planetary boundaries are already transgressed, and continue moving deeper into risk zones that could threaten our planet’s habitability. A seventh boundary, ocean acidification, is on the verge of transgression and may exceed safe limits in a matter of years. That’s according to the first-ever Planetary Health Check, a nearly 100 page report produced by the new Planetary Boundaries Science (PBScience) initiative led by Earth System scientist Johan Rockström and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and supported by the Planetary Guardians and other partners. Boundaries for climate change, biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities (such as synthetic chemical pollutants) are all surpassed, as a study published last year found. Worryingly, in this latest report, all those already transgressed are moving deeper into the red zone, says Levke Caesar, a report author and co-leader on planetary boundaries at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact. “Our updated diagnosis shows that vital organs of the Earth system are weakening, leading to a loss of resilience, and rising risks of crossing [irreversible] tipping points. “We see it’s not changing [for the better]. It is actually getting worse,” she says. The breach of planetary boundaries heightens the risk of permanently damaging Earth’s life support functions, with the report warning that the world is entering a “dangerous new era.”…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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South Africa Today – Environment
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