Our planet has a delicate ecosystem that has been thrown into absolute chaos due to humankind’s reliance on fossil fuels. Now a new report has found that of the 8 planetary boundaries, Earth is now at a point where, when fairness and justice is accounted for with regards to all populations, it technically fails 7 of those 8.
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00:00Our planet has a delicate ecosystem that has been thrown into absolute chaos due to humankind's
00:09reliance on fossil fuels.
00:11Now a new report has found that of the eight planetary boundaries, which include things
00:15like climate, surface and groundwater, as well as atmospheric compositional gases, Earth
00:20is now at a point where when fairness and justice is accounted for with regards to all
00:23populations, it technically fails seven of those eight.
00:27This new approach doesn't simply look at our planet as a single ecosystem and humans
00:30as a single community, rather it looks at how different communities around the world
00:34pollute and how they are affected by degraded planetary conditions.
00:38For instance, according to the report, boundaries like aerosols put a large number of individuals
00:42at risk, with vulnerable groups being affected disproportionately more while polluting less.
00:47Water scarcity is also going to affect billions of people within the next few decades, with
00:51similar groups being affected despite not being the biggest polluters.
00:54The study indicates that in order to keep things equitable and to not disproportionately
00:58cause negative climate effects for the most vulnerable, the 2°C climate goals aren't
01:03enough.
01:04According to the new report, we would need to limit climate change to just 1°C.
01:08The only problem is that 2023 is already expected to pass that number, with a projected 1.2°C
01:14global temperature increase this year.