Up to Us
Thomas Kuhn’s book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has been a must read for many
like me who express the madness gene ( see The
Sixth Extinction) by undertaking a doctoral dissertation. Kuhn
characterizes a field of inquiry as collections of puzzles solved (paradigms).
January of 2015 brought Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a
changing planet in Science magazine and The Trajectory
of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration in The Anthropocene Review.
Planetary
Boundaries describes nine dimensions in which our species has a chance to
bring about unpredictable, irreversible change. The two most pressing are
climate change and ocean acidification. Climate change includes concentration
of carbon dioxide which has a range of 350 parts per million (ppm) to 500 ppm
where sudden irreversible change is possible. We are now at about 400 ppm and
climbing. For the past 10,000 years, essentially since the Ice Age,
temperatures have stayed in a band of plus or minus 2 degrees centigrade which
has allowed life to flourish.
The
Great Acceleration includes 12 graphs for socio-economic dimensions and12
graphs for physical dimensions which show major accelerations since the mid- 20th
century. Increasing use of fossil fuels and economic activity through 2010 help
to explain why we have moved from the Holocene (our gift of 10,000 benevolent
years) to the Anthropocene where we can bring about dramatic challenges to life
on earth.
Jeffrey
Sachs new book, The Age of Sustainable Development, describes the
Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) which addresses the 17
Sustainable Development Goals (and 169 targets) which will be presented to the
United Nations General Assembly this September. SDSN also addresses “a new era
of intensive problem solving in …challenges that include health, education,
agriculture, cities, energy systems, conservation of biological diversity, and
more.”
I
eventually get around to the point. For puzzle addicts like me, the
Anthropocene provides enormous opportunity to think about new paradigms in
economics, political science, and theology. Kate Raworth’s depiction of doughnut
economics in Oxfam’s article for Rio plus 20, A safe and just space for humanity: CAN WE LIVE WITHIN THE
DOUGHNUT? sums it up
nicely. Inside the doughnut hole we have needs for good governance, poverty
eradication, health sustainable environment, and economic and social justice
which are currently not met for some of us. Outside the doughnut we have
exceeded the planetary boundries. In the doughnut itself is the safe and just
space for humanity.
Can
we live within the doughnut? What a great puzzle to solve! Up to us.
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