Finite Earth: Introduction

Take, make, dump. Take, make, dump.

Actually, Cady, this time you're wrong.

To me, limits are the essence of what it means to be human. We're limited by ability: not everyone can sprint 100m in less than 10 seconds, write Hamlet, or win the Nobel prize. We're limited by opportunity cost: time spent writing this blog means time spent not watching Mean Girls videos. Most importantly, we're limited by mortality: our very survival is limited by what's available in our environment.

And we know this. As a society, we have always been trying to use ingenuity to overcome these limits and enhance our ability to survive. Instead of letting each individual fend for him/herself, we cooperate and use machines and division of labour to make work easier. We alter the environment to do more, and live better, with less.

But at what point do the environmental changes we've created become a threat to our own survival?

To answer this question, let's take a look at the trajectory of human development.

Prior to 1800AD, we were dependent on inefficient mechanisms for harnessing energy, like windmills and animal muscle. These technologies alter environmental systems, but only on a local scale.

However, after 1800, efficiency improved dramatically, enough to kick-start the Industrial Revolution and grow enough food such that limits were taken off population growth. Following colonial expansion and WW2, neoliberal structures resulted in economic and social policies being adopted globally. These resulted in exponential increases in population, GDP, fertilizer consumption and internationalization of science and technology. The increase in the scale of human enterprise from 1950 onwards is known as the Great Acceleration. These new developments alter the environmental systems on a global scale.

The Great Acceleration (Source: MOOC)

Along with the Great Acceleration, we also came to a new, sobering realisation about our fragile existence and our place in the universe. We have mapped every corner of the globe and even advanced into space; we now find our growth limited by the capacity of our planet. This picture, "Earthrise", taken in 1968, sums up this realisation: this blue marble is all we have.

With the Great Acceleration creating rising pressure on the environment colliding with the increasing number of people on Earth with a right to development, scientists are driven to identify the point where global environmental changes will become a threat to our species' survival.

In this blog, over the course of 13 weeks, I will talk about the Earth's limits, how we know them, and the implications on development. Specifically, I will explore the science behind our present understanding of the Planetary Boundaries, and its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, I will discuss how this understanding should guide our future.

I hope you enjoy the read, and if you have any questions about my posts, please do not hesitate to leave a comment :)