WARNING this is sciencie stuff. It’s left brained focused and includes a fair amount of fear and dread. Still understanding this stuff, the science behind the climate/pollution crisis, is extremely useful in certain situations. In this case the below tipping points are a powerful reason for us to dawn the EcoEnlightened Age ASAP!

Tipping points, or Planetary Boundaries, are the critical points at which various Earth systems may no longer be able to self-regulate or keep the Earth the comfortable and predictable home in which we humans have spent our entire history as a species. Climate change, pollution, and economic expansion are rapidly brining these systems to their tipping points. Of course the issue is if we cross one or more planetary boundaries it may trigger catastrophic non-linear, abrupt environmental change. In other words, the change could happen quickly, chaotically, and in a big way. Including triggering tipping points in other Earth systems.

The nine Earth systems that have critical boundaries that the Fossil Fuel Age is threatening are:

1. climate change,
2. ocean acidification,
3. stratospheric ozone depletion,
4. biogeochemical flows in the nitrogen cycle,
5. excess global freshwater use,
6. land system change,
7. the erosion of biosphere integrity,
8. chemical pollution, and
9. atmospheric aerosol loading.

Following are three videos where Swedish environmental scientist Johan Rockström, discusses his team’s work on Planetary Boundaries and the pressure that humanity is putting on them. How these critical systems work to regulate the stability and resilience of the biosphere, and how their health and tipping points are measured. What’s at risk if we continue pushing each of these interdependent systems past the point where they can continue to function and the possibility to reverse the damage that consumptive, growth-based systems and climate change have already done to our planetary home and prevent further destruction.

1. TED Talk – The Tipping Points of Climate Change – and where we stand 18 Minutes).

2. Planetary boundaries: scientific advances (39 minutes)

Launched in 2009, the planetary boundaries framework is a science-based health check of the nine processes that keep our planet stable and resilient. The development of this framework was led by Johan Rockström. In his keynote presentation at Frontiers Forum Live 2023, Johan explained that humans are now the dominating force of change to the Earth system, and that we have a short window open to keep the planet in a Holocene-like interglacial state.

The planetary boundaries framework demonstrates that we’re seeing these Earth Systems losing their ability to correct themselves, even if we do manage to end the Fossil Fuel Age.  Professor Johan Rockström is director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and was recently named one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2023. He’s a global expert on sustainability issues and global water resources, and one of the most cited researchers in the world. Johan is additionally Chief Scientist of Conservation International and acts as an advisor on sustainable development issues at international meetings including the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC).

3. Exceeding Earth’s Safe Limits, a conversation. (1hr 32min)