I have often wondered if the subject of Climate Change overly influences how people interpret what matters, in the Anthropocene. Has the degrading of our biosphere been reduced to a single cause, in the eyes of too many? To what extent do environmental pressure groups, charities and the popular media overly focus on one single issue (Climate Change), when other issues are as important, or perhaps even more important? Why might this be? Is it because Climate Change is perceived as the greatest threat to humanity?
Michael Moore & Jeff Gibbs have made a controversial documentary (The Planet of the Humans), which looks at the underbelly of the Climate Change industry, related charities, lobby groups & related policies. I would implore a viewing of this provocative movie….
About 10-15 years ago I came across the concept of looking at the health of our planet, through the lense of multiple boundaries. Each time I read about these boundaries, the author was clear - that breaching any one of these boundaries is significantly detrimental to our biosphere. Why aren’t these issues presented to us, in their entirety and complexity? Limiting the presentation of these has consequences. About 15 years ago Jules Pretty coined the phrase ‘Environmental Literacy’. His assertion - if we don’t know about our natural world (planet), then we can’t properly care for it. High literacy gives rise to deep & comprehensive care. Do we lack both?
This is a typical list of global environmental boundaries:
Loss of Biodiversity - as David Attenborough spoke about recently, 1 million species on our planet face extinction and the rate of this extinction is possibly 100 times higher than normal / background. From my experience at UWNR the bulk of Ecologists consider this to be the hot button issue - for example; predictions are that Adders could be extinct in the UK within a decade.
NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) over use has given rise to the development of things like oceanic dead zones. Many scientists consider this boundary to be the most critical.
Climate Change
Land use and related habitat loss
Fresh Water scarcity
Ocean acidification
Chemical Pollution
The film got me thinking…..