Key figure: 5th

In a major study published on 18 January 2022 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, scientists of the Stockholm Resilience Center sounded the alarm, after having assessed for the first time the quantity of “new entities” introduced by human beings into the environment, their persistence, and the pace at which they are being produced and dispersed in nature. Plastics, pesticides, drugs and other chemical substances discharged by industry or contained in consumer products together create a volume so large and persistent that they irreversibly modify the planetary ecosystem.

The production of chemical products has increased 50-fold in 70 years

“The production of chemical products has increased 50-fold since 1950 and will triple from now to 2050”, asserts one of the co-authors of the study, Patricia Villarubia-Gomez. Since 1950, the production of chemical products has multiplied by 50 and today there about 350,000 types of different manufactured chemical products on the market. Plastic is one of the uncontrollable scourges of our modern societies, and its production increases constantly, possibly tripling from 2010 to 2050. Henceforth, the total mass of plastics on the planet represents more than twice the mass of all living mammals.

The magnitude of the phenomenon does not only apply to its volume but also to its duration. The persistence of these products is such that these wastes remain in nature for decades after they have been produced.

5 boundaries exceeded

The framework of nine planetary boundaries was conceived in 2009 by the Stockholm Resilience Center and has since been recognised by the UN and the European Commission. It defines nine natural variables that regulate planetary stability and resilience. In addition to a certain threshold that must be quantified for each one, the system Earth is no longer able to absorb anthropic pressure without lasting damage done to the living conditions of human beings.

In 2015, scientists established that four of these nine planetary limits had been exceeded: the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, the climate, biodiversity, and land-use. Thus, a fifth has just been exceeded. A new state that is not manifested by a sudden upheaval, but rather by an array of signs, making it more difficult to understand. But it is irreversible…

A new state that is not manifested by a sudden upheaval, but rather by an array of signs, making it more difficult to understand. But it is irreversible…