What is environmental stability and why is it important to us? I guess it would be good to have a recap of the nine ‘stable Earth Systems” before going deep into the discussion.
Credit: Young and Steffen (2009)
Prior to the Holocene, global climate was very abrupt and unstable, large shifts in a range of globally-important biogeochemical parameters have been associated with planetary-scale ecological change. Not until we arrived the age of Holocene, when these parameters fluctuated within a narrow band, the planet has developed into a safe operating space for humanity.
So how do we define “safe”? The nine planetary boundaries or “Earth Systems” created by a group of scientists from various disciplines - climatologists, ecologists, oceanographers, land-use specialists, hydrologists and others - would have answered the question. With all nine systems are operating below the safe limit, the environment is then considered to be stable and favourable for social and economic development (IGBP Magazine, Issue 74)
The nine planetary boundaries identified by scientists. The blue circle shows the safe limit for each planetary system. The red wedges indicate the best estimate of the current situation. Three boundaries have already been crossed, including climate change, the nitrogen cycle and biodiversity loss.
Credit: Rockström et al. (2009) Nature
Credit: Rockström et al. (2009) Nature
Does this mean that we can continue to achieve our human needs and desires such as economic growth, as long as these thresholds are not crossed? The evidence so far suggests yes. There are ways to describe such balanced development between socioeconomic development and ecological preservation by the restorationists, including ‘win-win ecology’, ‘reconciliation ecology’, ‘futuristic restoration’, etc., all conclude to one underlying human-centered assumption - human will continue to develop the Earth but will do so in a way that satisfies human needs for resources and beauty while also satisfying the needs of other species. After all, we are striving to create a ‘safe operating space for humanity’ (Allison 2007).
Hi Felicia, very enlightening blog post. It gives another perspective rather than taking climate to its initial conditions, before human interruptions (although that is likely to never occur)! Look forward to your next blog post.
ReplyDeleteHi Maria, thanks for the comment! I think it's almost impossible to stop human from exploiting the nature when neoliberalism is deeply infiltrated into our daily lives. So apart from looking into the discourse of anthropology, I'm more aware of how development evolves to satisfy needs of both humanity and the environment. Hope you'll find it insighful!
ReplyDeleteHi Felicia, note that the planetary boundary concept has been updated by Steffen et al. 2015 (see lecture and reading list from week one). But it is the case that the boundary for climate has not changed between the two studies.
ReplyDeleteHi Anson, thanks for the note. I shall update and elaborate it more in my later posts.
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