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Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries

Science Advances 2023 2462 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 70 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Katherine Richardson, Sarah Cornell, Will Steffen, Jørgen Bendtsen, Sarah Cornell, Wolfgang Lucht, Sarah Cornell, Jørgen Bendtsen, Sarah Cornell, Jonathan F. Donges, Will Steffen, Will Steffen, Markus Drüke, Ingo Fetzer, Govindasamy Bala, Will Steffen, Werner von Bloh, Georg Feulner, David Nogués‐Bravo, Will Steffen, Stephanie Fiedler, Dieter Gerten, Tom Gleeson Matthias Hofmann, Willem Huiskamp, Sarah Cornell, Matti Kummu, Chinchu Mohan, David Nogués‐Bravo, L. Weber, Stefan Petri, Miina Porkka, Stefan Rahmstorf, Sibyll Schaphoff, Kirsten Thonicke, Arne Tobian, Vili Virkki, Will Steffen, Lan Wang‐Erlandsson, L. Weber, Johan Rockström, Tom Gleeson

Summary

Scientists updated the planetary boundaries framework and found that six of nine critical Earth system limits have been crossed, including chemical pollution and climate change. This matters for human health because these boundary violations -- driven partly by plastic and chemical pollution -- signal that the planet's ability to support safe living conditions is being seriously compromised.

Study Type Environmental

This planetary boundaries framework update finds that six of the nine boundaries are transgressed, suggesting that Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity. Ocean acidification is close to being breached, while aerosol loading regionally exceeds the boundary. Stratospheric ozone levels have slightly recovered. The transgression level has increased for all boundaries earlier identified as overstepped. As primary production drives Earth system biosphere functions, human appropriation of net primary production is proposed as a control variable for functional biosphere integrity. This boundary is also transgressed. Earth system modeling of different levels of the transgression of the climate and land system change boundaries illustrates that these anthropogenic impacts on Earth system must be considered in a systemic context.

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