The Big Question: Is Earth Past the Tipping Point?

“For 10,000 years, our world seemed endless. The sky was the limit. But today’s world looks much smaller. We’ve cleared, consumed and polluted our way across the globe. The planet is shrinking. Have we pushed Earth past the tipping point? That’s a critical issue explored in this second Big Question video, from the University of MN, which draws on research from “Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humanity,” published this past fall in the journal Nature.

This video coincides with “Boundaries for a Healthy Planet,” IonE Director Jonathan Foley’s cover story in Scientific American magazine’s April 2010 issue.

This video is from the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment. The Wonk Room at Think Progress writes:

Last September, a team of 28 scientists identified “10 separate biophysical systems crucial to humanity’s flourishing” and then determined “safe operating boundaries” for those systems within which humanity must remain if we wish to maintain the conditions in which it developed civilization. Unfortunately, anthropogenic interference with the climate system, the nitrogen cycle, and biodiversity is already past safe thresholds, with ocean acidification, ozone depletion, and other resource consumption at the door.

This is a Wonk Room repost.

Planetary Boundaries

In a groundbreaking Nature article, 28 scientists including the IonE’s Jon Foley introduce a set of planetary boundaries.