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This content was posted on  1 Mar 12  by   The Long Now Foundation  on  Podcast
Mark Lynas – The Nine Planetary Boundaries: Finessing the Anthropocene

Human activities increasingly dominate 9 crucial planetary systems. Add to the familiar ones—climate, biodiversity, and chemical pollution—atmospheric aerosols, ocean acidification, excess nitrogen in agriculture, too much land in agriculture, freshwater scarcity, and ozone depletion. To have “a safe operating space for humanity” on Earth requires adjusting our behavior to work within those systems. How we collectively step up to that responsibility will determine whether “the Anthropocene” (the current geological era shaped by humans) will be a tragedy or humanity’s greatest accomplishment.

British environmentalist Mark Lynas is the author of one of the finest climate books, “Six Degrees”: http://www.amazon.com/Six-Degrees-Future-Hotter-Planet/dp/1426203853/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328737776&sr=8-1/lono0a-20, and of a new work, “The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans”: http://www.amazon.com/God-Species-Mark-Lynas/dp/000731342X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325710189&sr=1-1/lono0a-20, which spells out a cohesive Green program for this century guided by the 9 boundaries.

“The Nine Planetary Boundaries: Finessing the Anthropocene” was given on March 06, 02012 as part of Long Now’s Seminar series. The series was started in 02003 to build a compelling body of ideas about long-term thinking from some of the world’s leading thinkers. The Seminars take place in San Francisco and are curated and hosted by Stewart Brand. To follow the talks, you can:

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