The Age of Humans
Dr Anjani Ganase looks at the planetary boundaries that humans have impacted, moving the earth towards a state that may no longer be hospitable for our species. The Holocene Epoch marks 11,700 years of recorded human history in which we thrived in a stable environment and ecology. This allowed significant human evolution and in the last 100 years, saw the advance of technology and industry. In that short time, humans have drastically altered the global environment through resource extraction and pollution of our air and water ways. Some of these conditions have become destabilized resulting in sudden loss of biodiversity, habitats, resources and even shifting climate. Scientists have collated such environmental changes between 1950 to now, to identify the most important boundaries that should not be crossed for the sake of human survival. The planetary boundaries framework is science-based analysis that observes the risk associated with human ...