A Planet in Peril

In 2002 the respected Stockholm Environment Institute warned that a business-as-usual approach to economic development is likely to trigger “events that could radically transform the planet’s climate and ecosystems.” The report further stated that global poverty, continued inequity, and the degradation of environmental resources could cause society to reel “from one environmental, social and security crisis to the next.”

In 2005 the United Nations released the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report. This was a result of a four-year global study of Earth’s environment, involving more than 1,360 experts from 95 countries. The report contained a stark warning: “Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.” Averting calamity would require “significant changes in policies, institutions, and practices that are not currently under way,” states the report.

Anna Tibaijuka, executive director for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, expresses what is a growing consensus among researchers. She says: “If we continue as usual, a disastrous future beckons.”

What recent reports say: “Human activities have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinctions.” “Nearly two thirds of the services provided by nature to humankind are found to be in decline worldwide.”​—Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

“Human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.”​—NASA, Goddard Institute for Space Studies.