Have you ever thought about all the free stuff we get from the Earth?
Mother Nature provides us with free "ecosystem services" such as clean air, pollination of crops, protection from harmful ultraviolet rays, detoxification and decomposition of waste, and aesthetic beauty.
Ecosystem services generated naturally by our blue world include production of seafood, protection of coastal areas from beach erosion, clean water, and seemingly limitless opportunities for recreation.
If you had to put a price tag on how much all of these ecosystem services would cost for one year for the entire globe, it would cost about $30 trillion. That's half of the 2008 gross domestic product of every nation in the world combined!
Humans have tried to outsmart Mother Nature through experiments such as the Biosphere 2 project (Earth is considered Biosphere 1) which took place in the Arizona desert in the early 1990s.
The goal of this project was for a group of eight people to live for two years in an artificially created biosphere, totally shut off from the natural environment.
However, the project was shut down due to problems such as low oxygen levels, the extinction of pollinators (animals such as bees, butterflies, moths, and bats) which inhibited growth of vegetation and crops, and infestation of insect pests such as cockroaches.
An important lesson was learned from this failed experiment, however. Even with our advanced intelligence and technology, we cannot engineer an artificial ecosystem that can provide all of the ecosystem services necessary to support the human race. There is no doubting that we are deeply dependent on these natural services.
How many people can the Earth support with these ecosystem services? Scientists have been predicting how many people the Earth can hold — called the carrying capacity — for 350 years. Most of these estimates converge on a carrying capacity of 10 to 15 billion people.
The current global human population is about 6.6 billion and growing quickly. In 2050, just 40 years from now, global population is estimated to top 9 billion people. With this increasing population comes increasing demands on the Earth's ability to sustain life through its ecosystem services.
Natural resources such as unpolluted drinking water and fertile soil in which to grow crops are becoming increasingly stressed as humans become more abundant around the world.
Climate change is another impact of the ever-growing population. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is higher than it has been in at least 740,000 years, perhaps longer.
The primary contributor of this high level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels to meet the world's ever-increasing energy demands. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are the main cause of climate change.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference began in Copenhagen, Denmark earlier this week. At this two-week conference, world leaders, including President Barack Obama, will discuss strategies to decrease global greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change is a global problem which requires global cooperation. It will not be easy, but we must have confidence that problem-solving, diplomacy, and ingenuity will prevail amongst our world leaders.
We already know that we can't re-invent the Earth. Thus, we must come up with ways to take care of the planet we do have so that it can continue to provide us with those trillions of dollars worth of ecosystem services that so many of us take for granted.
Heidi Pearson, PhD, is assistant director and stranding coordinator with The Whale Center of New England, based on Harbor Loop in Gloucester. She can be reached via e-mail at heidi@whalecenter.org, or via phone at 978-515-5001. The Stranding Hotline is 978-281-6351.
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