Breaking Point

A report card on the conditions needed for a stable environment published in Science finds that four of nine boundaries have been exceeded.  The lead author is Will Steffen of the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Center.

What the science has shown is that human activities — economic growth, technology, consumption — are destabilizing the global environment.

Almost as a side note, another Science study finds that the oceans may be on the brink of a mass extinction.

Update (January 24):  Steffen also has a paper that illustrates how practically all of the environmental damage has occurred since 1950.