In the January edition of the journal Science,18 researchers reached the conclusion that we have already crossed four "planetary boundaries" that are essential to the life support system of the planet.
The boundaries are the rate of extinction, deforestation, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the level of nitrogen and phosphorous flowing into our sources of water. The science points to the source of the problem as human activities. They include unlimited economic growth, technology and excessive consumption. These factors are destabilizing the earth's environment and life support system.
Over the past 40 years, approximately 52 percent of wildlife (mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, etc.) is gone. A large percentage of our rainforests are gone. These forests remove excess carbon dioxide from the air and sequester it.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has passed the 400 parts per million level and is rising 2 ppm every year. To maintain a global temperature rise of less than 2 degrees Celsius, the acceptable limit is 350 ppm.
We are well on our way to uncharted territory concerning the climate unless we reduce carbon emissions now. We are seeing the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff in the Chesapeake Bay with growing dead zones. These are large areas where life cannot survive because of a lack of oxygen. The Gulf of Mexico has huge dead zones because of runoff from the Mississippi river and the destruction of wetlands that serve as natural filters.
There are more than 7 billion people on the planet using increasing quantities of natural resources. This consumption increases greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and also contributes to the extinction of other species as they lose habitat and resources essential to life. It includes greater demands on the fresh water supply.
Water, in the coming decades, will become the new oil, and wars will be fought over who controls the water supply. Life in the oceans is disappearing at an alarming rate because of wasteful and destructive industrial fishing practices, poaching, pollution and poisoning the water that sustains life.
If we fail to recognize the problems affecting our common life support system, we will become the endangered species and we have only ourselves to blame.
David J. Iacono
Westminster
