There’s no gainsaying that the exponential growth of the human race in the last two centuries has had a crazy effect on the planet we inhabit in. But how much of it is just a pessimistic, dystopian worldview, and how much of it is a threat to our way of life as we have it now? A lot of the latter, as it turns out.
Félix Pharand-Deschênes, a French scientist, has created a dashboard that shows how human pressure on planet Earth is reaching critical level faster than we have thought. Using 24 key social, economic, and environmental indicators, Felix has created a neat infographic that shows how much the human race has grown in the last 60 years.
The data comes from a new study on planetary boundaries—the limits of global factors that scientists believe would be dangerous for humanity’s survival. The study results suggest that we have crossed the line on “climate change, biosphere integrity, land-system change, and altered biogeochemical cycles (fertiliser use, phosphorus and nitrogen.)” And while “some improvements are visible, for example the recent apparent stabilisation of the ozone hole, many indicators are now beyond natural variability and remain on unsustainable trajectory.”
Just look at those curves—some of them exponential. World population and economic growth affecting energy, food, and water use that demand an increase in gas and oil production, fertilizer consumption to boost food production, and dam construction. At the same time, on the right, observe the dramatic increase on carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, stratospheric ozone, coastal nitrogen, acidification of oceans, marine fish captures, or tropical forest loss levels.
Can we readjust to this impending doom, like we have done so resiliently in the face of adversity so many times before, or is this the end of the road? Only time, a short time in the bigger scheme of things, will tell.