<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>It the long history of life on the Earth five major mass extinctions were observed. Nowadays, the impact of human activities on the planet has accelerated the loss of species and ecosystems to a level comparable to a sixth mass extinction, the first driven by a living species. Surprisingly, this fact rarely reaches the public consciousness. The negative influence of human activity is observed in whole area of land ecosystems, whereas marine ecosystems are at risk of entering a phase of extinction unprecedented in human history. We have domesticated landscapes and ecosystems causing unforeseen changes in ecosystem attributes. Humanity has already overshot global biocapacity by 50% and now lives unsustainabily by depleting stocks of natural capital. Three the Earth-system processes - climate change, rate of biodiversity loss and interference with the nitrogen cycle - have already transgressed their boundaries. Human activities are of sufficient magnitude to suggest that we have triggered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The “Biosphere 2” project revailed that we are not able to build and control a different system life and that we are totally dependent on the present biosphere. The experiment known in the literature as “The Tragedy of the Commons” reminds us that we need frugality and cooperation to solve environmental problems and survive.</p></abstract>

It the long history of life on the Earth five major mass extinctions were observed. Nowadays, the impact of human activities on the planet has accelerated the loss of species and ecosystems to a level comparable to a sixth mass extinction, the first driven by a living species. Surprisingly, this fact rarely reaches the public consciousness. The negative influence of human activity is observed in whole area of land ecosystems, whereas marine ecosystems are at risk of entering a phase of extinction unprecedented in human history. We have domesticated landscapes and ecosystems causing unforeseen changes in ecosystem attributes. Humanity has already overshot global biocapacity by 50% and now lives unsustainabily by depleting stocks of natural capital. Three the Earth-system processes - climate change, rate of biodiversity loss and interference with the nitrogen cycle - have already transgressed their boundaries. Human activities are of sufficient magnitude to suggest that we have triggered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The “Biosphere 2” project revailed that we are not able to build and control a different system life and that we are totally dependent on the present biosphere. The experiment known in the literature as “The Tragedy of the Commons” reminds us that we need frugality and cooperation to solve environmental problems and survive.

The most important message in the history of mankind

Department of Ecology, University of Silesia, Bankowa Str. 9, 40-007 Katowice, Poland

Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The most important message in the history of mankind"}

It the long history of life on the Earth five major mass extinctions were observed. Nowadays, the impact of human activities on the planet has accelerated the...

The most important message in the history of mankind

Published Online: Jun 24, 2016

Page range: 26 - 33

Received: Apr 13, 2016

Accepted: Jun 07, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/environ-2016-0009

Keywords
extinction, land and marine ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, Earth-system processes, anthropocene, Biosphere 2, Tragedy of the Commons

© 2016 Piotr Skubała, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The most important message in the history of mankind

Published Online: Jun 24, 2016

Page range: 26 - 33

Received: Apr 13, 2016

Accepted: Jun 07, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/environ-2016-0009

Keywordsextinction, land and marine ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, Earth-system processes, anthropocene, Biosphere 2, Tragedy of the Commons

© 2016 Piotr Skubała, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
extinction, land and marine ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, Earth-system processes, anthropocene, Biosphere 2, Tragedy of the Commons