One planet, many futures

Since the dawn of mankind, Nature has demonstrated a seemingly endless capacity to endure humanity’s misadventures. But evidence continues to mount that this capacity is reaching its limit. We must not forget that we have but one planet, one home—and the damage we are doing is irreversible.

This essay has won fifth place in our writing contest, featured in the January 2013 issue of Dimensions, "House of Cards: The perilous state of global biodiversity".

We have only one planet.” Seems obvious, doesn’t it? So why does the Living Planet Report1 of 2008 start with this sentence? Because we seem to have forgotten this simple truth: one planet. This truth needs to be reiterated in sustainability literature, school curricula, science forums, pulpits and around the dining room table. While our curiosity drives us to explore other planets (“Reach for the Stars” by will.i.am became the first song to play on Mars, today, at the time of writing), it seems that the very technology that takes us beyond the moon and back prevents us from actually coming home, to Earth. Although we can boldly go where no life has gone before, we have forgotten how to live here.

And while we’ve been dreaming about galaxies far, far away, Nature has stayed put: adapting, evolving and creating conditions that allow us to continue developing our technologies. We unknowingly depend on Nature to continue supporting our way of life and create a liveable planet.

18 January 2013 | Read more