Nine Planetary Boundaries

Earth is the only home for the human race, and since the beginning of mankind, people have continually consumed and destroyed its natural resources. Due to the industrial revolution in the 18th century, the world’s resources began to decline, and from then on, they have been rapidly decreasing. People do not seem to care much about the Earth until problems arise. The planet is in a current state of exhaustion from humankind’s activities. Without awareness of the consequences of all human ventures, there is a possibility that resources will become obsolete for current and/or future populations. Johan Rockstrom, a researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Center, developed nine planetary boundaries below which Earth must stay to remain a safe environment for all living things. Although these limits are all interconnected, the two most important areas to focus on are the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere and the usage of land for agriculture. Greenhouse gases can be released into the atmosphere from many different sources such as the production of electricity, the use of transportation, the burning of fossil fuels, and many more. These emissions lead to the …show more content…
These boundaries include climate change through greenhouse gases, the extinction of species, increasing nitrogen from fertilizers, and the loss of lands and forests to farming. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide levels should remain at 350 parts per million, but the atmosphere is currently at 400 parts per million. Nitrogen should remain at 62 Tg and the present total is 150 Tg, while the boundary for maintaining 75% of the world’s land area as forest is now at only 62%. All of the planet’s ecosystems are interconnected. Since the planet has crossed the four boundaries, there is a possibility that the others will be exceeded soon too