Earth’s Vital Signs Faltering Under Burden of Human Pressure

The world’s growing dependence on fossil fuels is fueling ecological destruction across the planet and threatening humanity’s future, according to a new study of trends released Wednesday by the Worldwatch Institute called “Vital Signs 2006-2007.” The report paints a grim picture of the planet’s vital signs and warns that dramatic changes in the global economy are needed to fend off ecological, economic and social catastrophes.

“It is becoming ever more apparent that human society has a rapidly shrinking window of time to alter its path,” said Eric Assadourian, lead author of the study.

The Earth’s ecosystems and much of humanity are suffering from “business as usual,” Assadourian said, despite global economic indicators that convey a sense of rising prosperity and production.
Those indicators show, for example, that gross world product rose in 2005 to a record $59.6 trillion as the world produced more food, steel, aluminum, cars and cell phones than ever before.

But these numbers and trends are set “against a backdrop of ecological decline in a world powered overwhelmingly by fossil fuels,” according to the report, titled “Vital Signs 2006-2007.”

Some 80 percent of the world’s energy comes from oil, coal or natural gas and rising energy prices have done little to slow demand.

Oil use grew 1.3 percent in 2005 to more than 83 million barrels a day. In 2004, natural gas use jumped 3.3 percent in 2005 and coal use increased by 6.3 percent.

..Unsustainable consumption patterns are straining the planet’s natural resources, the report said, and current trends offer little hope for improving the lives of the vast majority of the world’s population, which is estimated to grow to 8.9 billion by 2050.

If everyone in the world consumed at the average level of high-income countries, the planet could sustainably support less than 30 percent of the current population of 6.5 billion, according to the report.

Environment News Service