Page 37 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1

Mehmet Emin Birpınar

Giriş: We are crossing the boundaries of our planet

According to the assessments of National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, our world, which is the only planet that has maintained its
existence for about 4,6 billion years, the only livable planet with an incredible
balance has survived countless misfortunes throughout this time, and hosted
nearly 8,7 million species, including the ones which have become extinct
(Sweetlove, 2011).
However, the devepmonts in the last three centuries have caused a rapid
transformation that is unprecedented in history, causing a disruption in the
natural balance. What caused this transformation was the humans themselves,
who are just one of the 8,7 million species. Human beings, who are constantly
in pursuit of development, have made life easier with their innovations while
at the same time, increased the pressure on nature, thus, disrupting the
ecological balance.
Scientists state that we now have entered a new era. This new era witnessing
human domination is called “The Anthropocene Epoch”. This definition was
also mentioned in a global report issued by the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP).
UNDP, which has been issuing human development reports since 1990,
have blazed a trail with its 30th Human Development Report (UNDP, 2020)
dated Dec 15th, 2020. Contrary to former reports, this report covered the
environmental issues that directly affect the standards of living. The most
important point that stood out in the report, which also involved assessments
based on parameters such as carbon footprint as well as material footprint,
was emphasis on the fact that we have entered the “Anthropocene Epoch”.
The report stated that human beings now build their own order rather
than adapting the order of nature, that humans have dominated nature over
time, which caused a rapid increase in the use of natural resources. Finally,
according to the report, this increase exceeded the capacity of resources to
renew themselves, which landed a blow on the ecological balance.
Throughout history, human beings have built countless buildings, factories,
bridges, roads, dams, ships, planes, cars and many other structures to make
their lives easier. They did so by utilizing the resources of the Earth.
According to the assessments of Making Peace with Nature Report (UNEP,
2021a) issued on Feb 18th, 2021 by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), in
the last 50 years alone, the extraction and use of resources tripled, reaching
an annual amount of 90 billion metric ton. Likewise, the production of primary
energy and food has tripled since 1970, and as a result of this overconsumption,

22 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate,