Symbolic Count- down: 854 Days Left
Tidal Surge of Global Change 26 Times Faster in 21st Century: FIRE-EARTH
FIRE-EARTH Models show the rate of global change has intensified by a factor of at least 26 in the last decade compared with the 1960s.
FIRE-EARTH defines ‘global change’ as the deterioration in the planet’s life-support capacity that is caused by large-scale anthropogenic impact, leading to a total collapse.
The reality: Critical Overload Threatens Planetary Life Support Systems
Diagram shows the exponential growth of Human Impact on Nature (HION) between 1960 and July 2013. Source: FIRE-EARTH Real-Time Earth Models. Copyright: FIRE-EARTH Blog Authors.
Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) skyrockets to a new high
The FIRE-EARTH/CASF Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN), an index for calculating the human impact on the planetary life support systems, climbed to a critically high level of 323 on July 1, 2013. In other words, the anthropogenic impact on the living environment exceeded 3.23 times the planet’s diminishing carrying capacity.
- The index is rising exponentially.
- HIoN has risen 38 points, or more than 13 percent, since July 2012 when it reached 285.
- The index was less than 80 in 1960, and rose to about 100 in 1980.
“According to HIoN projections, our cities and population centers could become almost entirely unsustainable by as early as 2015.”
FIRE-EARTH Climate Models show climate change forcings and feedbacks switching global weather patterns onto “primordial tracks.”
FIRE-EARTH Population Model shows mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.