What’s the problem?

Providing for us all, but running out of power, planet Earth is in danger.

The way we eat today and all the associated activities needed to support this, is the single most detrimental thing us humans inflict upon the environment in which we live.

And unlike many other things, we cannot choose to not eat. 

We must change course now and start reshaping the food system towards one that can support a well-nourished world population on a thriving planet.

This is perhaps the greatest challenge of our time, the Food Planet Challenge.

Planetary boundaries: Staying within the planet’s safe zone.

For planet Earth to continue to host life, human activities can only alter the environment within certain limits.

The Planetary boundaries define the safe operating space we should stay within to avoid irreversible environmental degradation. It was developed in 2009 by a group of internationally renowned scientists led by Food Planet Prize Jury Co-chair Johan Rockström.

The researchers identified nine biophysical processes that regulate the stability of the planet’s climate and life-support systems. Each has its own quantitative boundary. Five – climate change, biodiversity loss, land system change, novel entities, and biochemical flows – have already been transgressed.

Transforming our food systems is the single most effective way to revert to safety, as all nine boundaries are indeed intrinsically linked to what we eat.

 

The planetary boundaries framework defines the space within which humanity can operate safely for generations to come. Today, we have exceeded five boundaries.

LAND-SYSTEM CHANGE

Across the globe, humans are rapidly turning forests, grasslands, wetlands, and other land types into agricultural land. The practice destroys these ecosystems and releases carbon they store. Which, in turn, drives biodiversity loss and global warming. We are in the red zone for this boundary.

BIODIVERSITY LOSS

The number of species in our ecosystems is decreasing by the day. Food production is the primary cause behind the present mass extinction but also a victim of it. In the past 50 years, our food sources, for example, have vanished from thousands to just a few handfuls of species. Biodiversity loss is deep in the red.

CLIMATE CHANGE

The more we release greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, the warmer it gets on Earth. Currently, record high temperatures cause sea ice to melt at unprecedented rates. We are in the yellow zone for this boundary, meaning the planet’s climate is at risk of changing forever. And once again, the food system is the largest GHG emitter.

CHEMICALS AND NOVEL ENTITIES

Emissions of toxic and long-lived substances like organic compounds and heavy metals compromise the biosphere, ecosystems, and human health. Long unquantified, researchers recently revealed that chemical and particularly plastic pollution had reached unsafe levels. And food and drink packages alone account for 16% of all plastics ever produced.

OZONE DEPLETION

The ozone layer protects Earth from harmful UV radiation. When it thins, skin cancer cases increase and biological systems suffer. For instance, ozone depletion hinders plant growth and agricultural productivity. The 1987 Montreal protocol banned ozone-depleting substances in refrigerators and pesticides a.o., allowing us to stay within boundaries.

ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL LOADING

Humans add different kinds of aerosols and pollutants to the atmosphere. Nitrogen fertilizers obsessively sprayed over crops and fumes released when burning crop residues are 2 of them. Aerosols affect the hydrological cycle like the monsoon rains, while pollutants cause around 800 000 premature deaths annually. The boundary for aerosol remains unidentified.

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

About one-fourth of the carbon dioxide that humans are emitting is absorbed by oceans, dropping their pH level. As many marine animals have difficulties adapting to these acidified environments, marine ecosystems we depend on for food supply risk collapsing. We are barely within boundaries but still can bring oceans back from the brink.

BIOCHEMICAL FLOWS

The use of fertilizers in industrial agriculture is changing the biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen and phosphorous. Since plants only absorb part of the added nutrients, the remainders wash out to and overfertilize aquatic environments, which become eutrophic and oxygen-depleted. With the Baltic Sea at risk of dying, this boundary is deep into the red.

FRESHWATER USE

Even if there is a lot of water on Earth, only a tiny fraction is available to humans, and its scarcity is becoming more acute. Scientists predict that 500 million people will live under water stress in 2050. Since 2500 out of the 3000 liters of fresh water we use daily come from our food production, the latter is a crucial lever of change.

The planetary boundaries framework defines the space within which humanity can operate safely for generations to come. Today, we have exceeded five boundaries.

Beyond zone of uncertainty (high risk)

In zone of uncertainty (increasing risk)

Below boundary (safe)

Role of agriculture

Nominate yourself or someone else, it takes three minutes and could change the world!