Last week, we received this scary bulletin out of Berkley, California:
A prestigious group of scientists from around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere, a planet-wide tipping point that would have destructive consequences absent adequate preparation and mitigation.
Since the warning was featured in a prominent journal, many in mainstream media (and the enviro-blogosphere) dutifully treated it as the latest sky-is-falling alert. The New York Times, taking the sober, detached approach, asked:
Are we nearing a planetary boundary?
That headline is a nod to a much-discussed concept laid out in Nature several years ago (you can read the expanded version here), which made the case for "a safe, operating space for humanity" by identifying thresholds for climate change, ozone depletion, ocean acidification, biodiversity, freshwater use, the global nitrogen and phosphorus ...
