The activities that our species has carried out in the last 60 years have reached planetary proportions , to such an extent that they are leading the Earth into a new geological era.
This is the conclusion reached by an international team of researchers coordinated by Professor Will Steffen, a chemical engineer and climate science expert at the Australian National University, who has analyzed the evolution of the main environmental factors in recent centuries and the impact that alterations in them can have on humanity.
In an article published in the journal Anthropocene Review , these scientists compared changes in population, energy use or economic growth since 1750 with various global environmental indicators, such as the nitrogen and carbon cycles or biodiversity. Thus, they found out that since 1950 the use of energy has increased fivefold and that of fertilizers has increased eightfold.
Furthermore, species are becoming extinct today at a rate a hundred times higher than in previous decades, and the amount of nitrogen ending up in the oceans has quadrupled. “We have entered a new geological era, the Anthropocene, in which the global economic system is the main driver of changes on Earth. In just one generation we have become a force that leaves its mark on a planetary scale , ”says Steffen.
In another essay, advanced in Science , these experts have shown the risks that our actions entail for nine factors on which the survival of societies depends , from fresh water reserves to soil fertility. As they indicate, we have crossed the red line as a species in four of them: climate change caused by carbon emissions; the loss of the integrity of the biosphere, as a consequence of the high extinction rates; changes in the organization of the land and the alteration of biogeochemical cycles, especially due to the large amount of phosphorus and nitrogen that reaches the sea due to the disproportionate use of fertilizers.
However, Professor Steffen emphasizes that with proper planning and a commitment to innovation, even with a population of 9,000 million people, we could live comfortably without crossing these ecological limits.
