Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

by Owen Gaffney

On the brink of a critical moment in human history, this audiobook presents a vision of 'planetary stewardship' - a rethinking of our relationship with our planet - and plots a new course for our future.

The authors, whose work is the subject of a new Netflix documentary released in summer 2021 and narrated by Sir David Attenborough, reveal the full scale of the planetary emergency we face - but also how we can stabilise Earth's life support system.

The necessary change is within our power if we act now.

In 2009, scientists identified nine planetary boundaries that keep Earth stable, ranging from biodiversity to ozone. Beyond these boundaries lurk tipping points. To stop short of these tipping points, the 2020s must see the fastest economic transition in history.

This audiobook demonstrates how societies are reaching positive tipping points that make this transition activism groups such as Extinction Rebellion, or the schoolchildren led by Greta Thunberg demand political action, countries are committing to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and one tipping point has even already passed - the price of clean energy has dropped below that of fossil fuels.

Inside the audiobook of this scientifically-led publication, world-leading climate-change experts explain the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced.



Expert-authored text in an accessible style for both adults and children ages 14 and above. A breakdown of the nine planetary boundaries for relative stability on Earth, ranging from biodiversity to the ozone layer. An exploration of climate 'tipping points' - good and bad. Johan Rockström is a leading global sustainability scientist and chief scientist at Conservation International. He has published several books, presented three TED talks and, other than the Netflix/WWF production Our Planet, he has worked with James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio and others on several major films and TV productions.

Owen Gaffney is a science writer, journalist and global sustainability expert who co-founded the Future Earth Media Lab and Rethink Earth. A regular writer for New Scientist, he is also on the editorial board of Anthropocene Magazine.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Climate Change, Environment, Sustainability, Nature, Society

Audible Audio

First published May 6, 2021

Reviews

[Henrik Haapala · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024-10-26:

Breaking boundaries by Johan Rockström (Owen Gaffney, Greta Thunberg) excellent book about our common future. Written by globally leading researcher the main concept, coined in 2009, “planetary boundaries” which are these nine:

1. Climate Change
2. Biodiversity Loss (Biosphere Integrity)
3. Biogeochemical Flows (specifically nitrogen and phosphorus cycles)
4. Land-System Change (e.g., deforestation, land conversion)
5. Freshwater Use
6. Ocean Acidification
7. Atmospheric Aerosol Loading (e.g., particulate matter in the atmosphere)
8. Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
9. Novel Entities (including chemical pollution and synthetic substances like plastics)

Progress is clear in number 8 (ozone) and lacking in 2 (biodiversity) and 3 (biogeochemical flows, nitrogen and phosphorus). The book has all the graphics needed to illustrate the point.

Summary in English:
We live in Anthropocene and are able to destabilize the planet. Our mission is to take 40 billion tonnes of yearly carbon emissions to zero. We have four forces: social, political, technological and financial. We have the sixth wave of innovation to meet this challenge. This is a megatrend and effects are global. The point is to make investments today on our common future in 10 years ahead. Agenda 2030 and the 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) and “donut” economics are all models to help us on the way. The goals become very specific when applied and surprising even exponential improvement is possible. I’m cautiously optimistic about human potential to change for the better. Also a key force is equality and more equal distribution of resources. The “Greta” effect: no one is too small to make a difference. We all depend on nature and our planet so we can’t use resources of four planets when we only have one. The biosphere is a thin film on earth. Let’s not destroy it.

——————————————————
Svenska: “Jorden vår planets historia och framtid”, Johan Rockström (2021), natur & kultur.

Politik och strategier för jordresan:
1. Inför omedelbara lagkrav på att nettoutsläpp av växthusgaser ska minska till noll senast år 2050 och att naturens tillbakagång ersätts av återhämtning till 2030.
2. Stoppa alla nya investeringar i fossila bränslen.
3. Dra in alla subventioner som gynnar fossilbränsle användning utarmning av biologisk mångfald och avskogning.
4. Sätt ett pris på koldioxidutsläpp.

Begreppet planetära gränser är centralt:

1. Klimatförändringar
2. Förlust av biologisk mångfald
3. Förändrad markanvändning (som avskogning)
4. Störningar i biogeokemiska flöden (kväve och fosfor)
5. Färskvattenanvändning
6. Havsförsurning
7. Aerosoler i atmosfären
8. Ozonlagrets uttunning
9. Nya kemiska substanser (ex. plast, hormonstörande ämnen)

Citat:
” ungefär 80 % av koldioxidutsläppen i världen äger rum helt kostnadsfritt…
Ekonomer som analyserar klimatstrategi råder allmän samstämmighet om att länderna behöver sätta ett pris på minst 400 till 450 kr per per ton utsläppt koldioxid som gäller inom alla samhällssektorer från livsmedelsproduktion och transporter till uppvärmning av lokaler. Inga undantag! Sverige har idag en koldioxidskatt på ungefär 1200 kr per ton. Kanada har infört en koldioxidskatt där alla skatteintäkter återförs till skattebetalarna, jämnt fördelade över hela befolkningen.” p.250

”Det står klart att ett ökande antal institutioner nu avstår från investeringar i fossila bränslen. Avyttringarna motsvarar ett värde som redan har passerat 120 biljoner kr. Så hur långt har vi kvar till nästa nästa ekonomiska tröskelpunkt? Investerare som tar ett socialt ansvar har stort inflytande. Enligt en del studier räcker det med att 10 till 20 % av investerarna agerar på det här sättet för att det ska utlösa en kedjereaktion som får kolbubblan att brista. Senare forskning av Ilona Otto och hennes kollegor tyder på en ännu mindre andel kan vara tillräcklig. Allt fler analytiker tror att en finansbubbla är på väg att växa fram, och att den kan brista är investerarnas bedömning av riskerna med fossila bränslen når en viss tröskelnivå. Simuleringar visar att den är så liten andel som 9 % av investerarna kan få systemet ur balans och förmå andra investerare att följa efter.” p.267

” jämlika samhällen tenderar att ligga bättre till när det gäller utbildningsresultat såsom räkne -och läskunnighet. Fetma förekommer i mindre omfattning. Tonårsgraviditeterna är färre. Drogberoende och alkoholism förekommer inte lika allmänt. Antalet mord är lägre. Färre människor sitter i fängelse. Och den sociala rörligheten är större: är man född i en låginkomst familj i Sverige finns fler möjligheter att genom utbildning och praktik nå upp i höginkomstskikten än i exempelvis Brasilien eller USA. Den amerikanska drömmen är lättare att leva i Stockholm eller Köpenhamn än i Los Angeles eller New York. Pickett och Wilkinson studerade också ojämlikheten inom USA. De fann samma mönster där. Delstater med större inkomstskillnader klarade sig sämre avseenden, från opioidmissbruk till fetma.”
186-187

Category: big ideas, science/society non-fiction, climate change, sustainability, earth science.

[Pablo Urbina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way science should be written and communicated

[Pieter Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can still cry myself to sleep. This books gave me the reason why. Luckily it ended on a hopeful note. Must read science book for anybody slightly concerned with the future of our planet.

[Malte Lindblad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Borde läsa om den om några år. Mycket info en del intressant fakta men mycket jag inte orkar/kan ta in och lära mig

[Rohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

These Swedish gents say some hilarious colloquial terms. I guess it shows how deep in the shit we are in when professors write in swear words and other exciting localisms to describe what is going on. Anyways, this is the most comprehensive read on climate science and adaption that I have ever read.

[Boas Kraai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be read by everyone. Perfectly outlines the science of our earth’s system and what is needed to reverse our negative impact. Both theoretically and practically.

Very well-written, made science easily understandable.

A clear pathway to mission Earthshot… Now we just need to act…

[Nairn McLean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone should read. So important to our future.

[Tobias · Rating 2 out of 5]

Det kunde ha varit en viktig bok men här blandas vetenskap med politiska hobbyteorier. Svårt att veta vad man ska ta på allvar när det blandas verklig klimatkunskap med visioner om nolltillväxt eller global förmögenhetsskatt (där man lutar sig mot "experten" Piketty). Författarna vädjar till minskad polarisering men de polariserar själva när de blandar in massa politik som kanske låter bra i teorin, men som inte går att implementera i verkligheten och det inte heller har med klimatfrågan att göra.

Gillar inte heller när det uttrycks att "inget händer". Det blir förstås en mer slagkraftig konflikt när man uttrycker sig så, men det händer en hel del. Kanske inte tillräckligt snabbt, men att hävda att inget händer är osant och det gör att boken är svår att ta på allvar som kunskap. Det är en välskriven bok och välberättad bok, men jag har inte lärt mig något nytt om klimatet.

[Ning · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dire warning of the man-made planetary crisis. We are breaking multiple planetary boundaries but we can still course correct (do we have a choice?) Unfortunately, as with almost all books written about climate, it's far more optimistic than how events are actually unfolding since the publication of the book.

[Evelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Många intressanta kapitel med många olika aspekter. Inte minst jämställdhet och demokrati kopplat till klimatförändringar. Lite för mesigt kapitel kring livsmedelsindustrin och dess påverkan tyvärr. Men förutom det, en relativt lättförståelig och en väldigt viktig bok! 🌍🌱

[adelaide · Rating 4 out of 5]

a bit repetitive at times, but relatively engaging and strikes a good balance between realism and hope.

[Neida · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s worrying and heart-breaking to read every single page in this book and realising that it is an absolute truth. Nothing more than simple but dizzying TRUTH. This book is a must read to every citizen on earth; regardless the kind of work you do. Lawyers, housewives, doctors, engineers, accountants, shop owners, farmers… every single person must be aware of what’s really happening to their environment. Our environment; and not just the 360degree of space you have around you because we are all connected.
My review on this book is nothing short of a 5; why? Because this piece is the piece that makes your hair stood on end! It’s also very well written and easy to follow through (easy but contains painful truth of what’s happening globally now)
We, we are living through this era. We are experiencing; we are seeing these climate changes before our very eyes. It’s our ( our as in “all human, collectively”!) own doing and we have to know that. And now, the Earth that we call our home is struggling so hard to stabilise herself. We are living at 415ppm of carbon dioxide in our air and this is already beyond the threshold for a stable environment. We have left stable environment decades ago and we are still doing things Business As Usual!
Its sickening to see we are still aggressively cutting trees in the forests. Closer to home, if there was no flood in Terengganu recently, would we have known about the logging activities up in Tasik Kenyir? Of course we do not want people displaced from their homes due to the floods. But, mother nature is fighting back. And you’re stupid to believe that we have nothing to do with it. Floods are now occurring at places that were never before hit by it. Sheets of ice / glaciers are melting away by the thousands of cu.m every day!
If nothing is to be done to reduce emissions starting 2020; and achieving the target of at least half by 2030, then those who live in the coastal cities should start looking for real estates further inland. Yes, it is that bad..
Malaysian politicians should read this book.
(Watch Netflix if you don’t want to read the book. Peace!)

[Shanu Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not many climate books or literature focus on giving you the entire timeline of earth’s existence and why this remarkable period of ~12,000 years is so important. We need not protect it because of some virtuous call but literally because these stable conditions were the bedrock for building society as we know it - agriculturally, scientifically, and industrially. If people knew how volatile the conditions of earth typically are and how much we’ve done to set it off course in such little time, our collective action would be much greater. Concise explanations with good graphics and takeaways. Will recommend this to many people.

[Bartley Sharkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book in Singapore and finished reading it in Ireland. Having come back to cool, changeable weather it has become difficult to imagine what life must be like for those back in Singapore who recently had to put up with daily high temperatures of 36 degrees celsius, which is only slightly higher than the usual 31 or 32 degrees, but sounds even more unbearable and dangerous.

Breaking Boundaries is a book that tries its best to grapple with a vast, nebulous topic in an attempt to identify and quantify the different aspects of destruction that humans are wreaking on the globe we all inhabit. It's not a cheery topic but the tone, although often pretty bleak, ultimately manages to strike an optimistic note. It was published in 2021 and does manage to make some references to the massive shift caused by covid, illustrating that people across the globe can spring into action and make significant changes when the right motivations come along.

However, with several COP meetings having come and gone and various governments making excuses about why they haven't been able to progress on their green agenda, I reckon the same book written today would sound a tad less optimistic. What's more, there has to be a certain amount of selection bias when it comes to who exactly is going to read this book. Those who prefer to ignore uncomfortable truths or flat out deny the problems that exist are unlikely to consider reading this one, never mind try to understand whether they themselves can do more to influence the future we are all in the process of providing future generations.

The book itself is pretty dry and scientific. As you'd expect, there are plenty of scary anecdotes and statistics about the damage that has already been done and what a disaster our current trajectory will produce. It definitely reminds me of the movie Don't Look Up in the sense that it's highly likely to be ignored by most because it's factual, it's serious and just not very catchy. How do you make something so vast and gradual sound urgent? I don't know.

[Max Frey · Rating 3 out of 5]

El libro se divide en tres partes:

- Acto I se narra la evolución del planeta tierra.
- Acto II se describen aprendizajes clave sobre el cambio climático y la situación en la que nos encontramos hoy (crítica).
- Acto III: Se especula sobre el futuro y los caminos que podríamos (o no) tomar para volver a estabilizar nuestro planeta.

Lo que más me gustó del libro es que se nota que quienes escriben conocen del tema y, a pesar de no ser un libro académico, tiene varias referencias a investigaciones de frontera sobre el cambio climático. Desde alguien que viene de la ingeniería, aprendí bastante sobre la ciencia de cómo se formó nuestro planeta y los distintos eventos que fueron dando forma a la vida. El acto II no lo encontré bueno, pero fue porque ya conocía estos conceptos y me resultó un poco reiterativo leerlos. De hecho, recomiendo saltarse este capítulo y leer el paper original de Rokstrom (https://www.nature.com/articles/461472a) y este blog de carbon brief (https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer...). El acto III lo encontré un poco largo (de hecho abarca más de la mitad del libro), pero me gustó la forma en que cuentan los 6 "Earthshot system transformations". En este caso, si me hizo reflexionar e ir a google varias veces a profundizar ciertas ideas.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clarion call to unite for the planet

This book pulls no punches about the current state of the planet, how this largely down to humans and, vitally, what we can do to fix things.

The authors describe in detail the boundaries and parameters that define a biosphere capable of supporting life as we know it, how close we are to breaking them and the actions we urgently need to take. They look at things from a range of perspectives, from the underlying science through to the economics and politics that will be essential to turning things around.

Having spelled out the hard and undeniable truths of the dire straits we’ve bought the planet to the authors go through what we can do to bring the climate back from the brink. While we really do have ten short years to make some major changes I finished the book with a sense of quiet optimism and feeling motivated to do everything I can to play my part. The book left me feeling that we really can do this and any book that leaves me feeling empowered in the face of climate change was well worth a read.

I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book - hard to read in one sitting since it provokes thought. I led a book group discussion so I used the audio book version to help push me through. Note that audio book lacks the numerous charts and graphs - which greatly enhance the book, especially with the vast amounts of data (presented in a very digestible form). I really liked the concise summary of how the earth evolved to the Holocene (which is a self-regenerative state, allowing for life forms to thrive) then the rapid shift to the Anthropocene (caused by humans) which now has thrown everything out of whack and endangers the survival of all life on the planet as we know it. The planetary boundaries helped categorize and define what's important -and to help target remedies, which must be undertaken immediately. If anything is lacking, is very specific short term solutions (rather than just policies and general actions), although other books such as Drawdown cover these well. Nonetheless, the book is valuable and should be on every climate advocates shelf.

[Mike Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a collection of essays grouped into 3 Acts. Act 1 discusses the planet's cycles, the Holocene and Anthropocene eras as man changes the earth. Act 2 discusses the new epoch we are in compared to the stable 10K yr Holocene era, and tipping points. It discusses the earth's systems (ocean, climate, ozone) and ecosystem boundaries (biodiversity, land, freshwater, nutrients). Act 3 discusses transitions to a stable earth system (energy, inequality, population, cities, economics).

The forward by Greta Thunberg and intro by Antonio Guterres (UN Secretary) outline how time is running out. There are 3 groups of color plates (total 15) which really add to the book.

I found this book to be a good summary and companion guide to the Netflix documentary.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading. Broke down complex systems into something more understandable for those without science degrees or advanced knowledge on the subjects discussed. We need to make changes and it’s becoming so frustrating to listen to ignoring people with small minds stay ignorant and closed-minded about things they don’t even begin to understand. Thank goodness we do not have to rely on them as individuals to make the changes needed because SYSTEMIC changes are where the real progress can be made. We need to be louder than the deniers. There are MORE of us. We need to speak up.

[Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent and extremely well argued. I might not necessarily agree with a couple of points. It is definitely a brilliant book. It's an important book that should be actioned on. If you are interested in reading this book they i definitely recommend reading it. I loved the fact that it was easy to understand and I actually learnt things from reading this book. I actually listened to the audiobook and loved the narrator he did an excellent job making it flow seamlessly and nice voice to enjoy.
Many thanks to the author and publishers for bringing us such an interesting book.

[borgona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inom loppet av ett ögonblick har vi själva, en enda av jordens alla arter, nått ett så fullständigt herravälde över biosfären att vi har börjat störa de interna funktionerna hos jordens livsuppehållande system, till en början oavsiktligt men numera egensinnigt och uppsåtligt. Vi borde gå försiktigare fram.

[Nestor Jimenez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mandatory book to understand the current status of our chances to overcome the enormous climate change risk. The critical need is not to lose this last opportunity window which is the next ten years. Please read it and share!

[Daniel]

I found the message very compelling full of facts and non-opinionated. It is a call for action to avoid catastrophe on a global level. It helps to understand where we stand, how we got here, and what needs to be done if we want to keep around.

[Jam Hause · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable, not bad, yeah, and it's emergency people shall take actions, now.

[Adrenalinus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mycket bra skriven. Aktuell bok skriven av världsledande klimatforskare. Ett måste!

[Miyanda Chilipamushi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Effective communication on the science behind the earth (past, present and future) with exciting proposed interventions for the future with respect to climate change.

[Andrew Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential! Imoformative and gives us hope for the future of our planet.

[Ioannis Gkikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting overview.

[Rich Watson]

Excellent book; what needs to be done to prevent the climate emergency that faces the world

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaking Boundaries" isn't your average "we're doomed" book about climate change. There's real, solid science here and it's presented in a way that is very easy to read and to understand. I had a lot of "I should have known that. Why didn't I know that?" moments while reading. A copy of this book should be delivered to every world leader and they should be forced to read it. We can all play our part, but really we need governments to make the big changes we (and our home) so desperately need.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.