According to a recent study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances of the planet's life support systems, researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) say industrial civilization is on the verge of or has already crossed the seventh of nine planetary bounderies.
The researchers say there has been a transgression of the boundaries for climate change, biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities like synthetic chemicals or plastics.The researchers say there has been a breach of the boundaries for climate change, biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities like synthetic chemicals or plastics.
The notion of planetary boundaries, initially introduced in 2009, highlights nine global objectives related to human-caused changes to the environment's stability and livability. While crossing a boundary does not imply that catastrophic changes will happen right away, they do indicate that the "patient" is not doing well.