The Scale of Ecocide: Humanity Has Breached SIX Out of Nine Planetary Boundaries!

For years, we have been fighting against local environmental problems. I call it "groundwork." We inspected logging sites, documented violations, sent inquiries to government agencies, and ensured crimes against wildlife were investigated, with perpetrators brought to justice! This effort never attracted public attention. In reality, people are only willing to protect nature when disaster strikes right outside their windows.

We fought as hard as we could!

Years passed, I studied hundreds of scientific papers, searched for answers to my questions, and tried to fill not only my knowledge gaps but also those of our society. The number of people willing to protect nature grew; we united, forming our own immunity, and now we actively try to awaken as many as possible who are ready to act, see the problems, understand them, and want change!

More than ten years of fighting with my own hands! Gray in my beard, life passes, but there is so much more for me to learn. To experience. So much knowledge to gain.

But you know, I don’t want to live my life without making the world a better place! People chase money, power, and expensive possessions. But why do we need all this? At my age, I have neither cars, real estate, nor physical wealth. I simply don’t understand why.

Why?

If the greatest wealth, the most priceless thing we have, is future generations, our Life here and now, the opportunity to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and raise our children.

Billions chase after gold.

And they teach their children to do the same! Children grow up and follow in their parents' footsteps, copying their behavior and considering it normal to dedicate their lives to fighting over fleeting profits.

And I think it’s time to change all this! Right now, I’m seeking answers to my questions: how to change the mindset of millions and awaken in them a thirst, a hunger for real life? How to explain to people that the world around us, as we consume it and tear it apart, is no longer what it used to be?

A little more, and there will be no turning back. But there’s still time to reverse the processes of destruction: to change ourselves — and influence the world around us.

PLANETARY BOUNDARIES

Here’s the situation: while people argue over politics, engage in social disputes, and divide fleeting profits, our planet can no longer withstand the pressure! The conflict between Humanity and the Biosphere has taken an uncontrollable destructive path.

Everything people consider "the most important in their lives" today will soon hold no value at all. And what is free today will become more precious than any gold! The shortage of clean water and air will simply enrich the same capitalists who now profit from selling natural resources. They tear apart the Earth’s crust, making billions, without regard for the consequences.

I want to clearly illustrate the issue of nature’s destruction so you can grasp the scale of global ecocide! Without scientific evaluations, it’s impossible to understand the destruction and foresee future consequences. That’s why it’s so crucial for us to operate with real scientific data and develop a perception of the world that goes beyond a local perspective.

I had to struggle with this for a long time because of a lack of data! Just understanding the scale of the catastrophes took years of my life. And when you break beyond the horizon of perception of the world around you, rise like a massive bird above the global deforestation, a chill runs through you as you realize how much we, humans, are a destructive geological force on Earth.

So. About planetary boundaries!

In 2009, an international group of scientists presented the Concept of boundaries that humans must not cross under any circumstances. These are nine planetary boundaries that define key processes for maintaining life conditions on Earth. Simply put — how suitable our environment is for life. If planetary boundaries are breached, it means we are heading into the abyss, and the world around us becomes uninhabitable!

The planetary boundaries presented by scientists evaluate conditions over the past 10,000 years, the period when humanity and modern civilization developed. This Concept has already become a highly influential and rapidly growing discipline not only in the scientific community but also in politics and societal institutions.

All nine planetary boundaries are interconnected, complementing each other. This means they must be considered together to preserve Earth’s health.

Let me try to explain the essence of planetary boundaries in simple terms.

The first four are based on what we take from the environment:

• Loss of biodiversity
• Freshwater use
• Deforestation
• Land exploitation

The remaining five planetary boundaries are based on what we process and discard back into the environment:

• Greenhouse gases, which affect climate change and ocean acidification
• Chemical pollutants affecting the ozone layer
• New objects and materials such as plastic, synthetics, chemicals, and genetically modified organisms (created by humans)
• Aerosols
• Excess nutrients, such as chemically active nitrogen or phosphorus from fertilizers

So, six of the nine planetary boundaries have already been fully breached! Two of the remaining three — ocean acidification and atmospheric pollution concentration — are on the brink, and only the depletion of the ozone layer remains within safe limits.

According to scientific assessments, essentially only one planetary boundary is safe! All the others are either already completely breached or have reached critical thresholds.

It’s important to understand that the violation of planetary boundaries happened very recently! In less than 100 years, humans have managed to destroy ecosystems in ways no global processes on the planet have affected in at least the past 10,000 years.

But it’s actually very simple. Let me try to explain it clearly!

In 1900, the Earth’s population was about 1.6 billion people. By 2024, the number officially exceeded 8 billion! And you can argue about the accuracy of these figures all you want — conspiracy theories among people abound — but overpopulation is a real, objective issue.

To clarify, some countries indeed experience population decline. However, in poor countries, the population continues to grow rapidly! For example, while Russia sees a decrease in population — a well-documented fact — Kenya (Africa) saw a population increase of over 59