Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainability
The Anthropocene era is characterized by the escalating impact of human activities on the environment, as well as the increasingly complex interactions among various components of the Earth system. These factors greatly affect the Earth’s evolutionary trajectory. Despite notable strides in sustainab...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Geography and Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266668392300069X |
| _version_ | 1797224116509474816 |
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| author | Chuanglin Fang Zhitao Liu |
| author_facet | Chuanglin Fang Zhitao Liu |
| author_sort | Chuanglin Fang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Anthropocene era is characterized by the escalating impact of human activities on the environment, as well as the increasingly complex interactions among various components of the Earth system. These factors greatly affect the Earth’s evolutionary trajectory. Despite notable strides in sustainable development practices worldwide, it remains unclear to what extent we have achieved Earth sustainability. Consequently, there is a pressing need to enhance conceptual and methodological frameworks to measure sustainability progress accurately. To address this need, we developed an Earth Vitality Framework that aids in tracking the Earth sustainability progress by considering interactions between spheres, recognizing the equal relationship between humans and nature, and presenting a threshold scheme for all measures. We applied this framework at global and national scales to demonstrate its usefulness. Our findings reveal that the current Earth Vitality Index is 63.74, indicating that the Earth is in a “weak” vitality. Irrational social institutions, unsatisfactory life experiences and the poor state of the biosphere and hydrosphere have remarkably affected the Earth vitality. Additionally, inequality exists between high-income and low-income countries. Although most of the former exhibit poor human-nature interaction, all of them enjoy good human well-being, while the opposite is true for the latter. Finally, we summarize the challenges and possible options for enhancing the Earth vitality in terms of coping with spillover effects, tipping cascades, feedback, and heterogeneity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:07:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3480a46517e445a29a9f33260b06a141 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-6839 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:48:00Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geography and Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-3480a46517e445a29a9f33260b06a1412024-04-04T05:07:22ZengElsevierGeography and Sustainability2666-68392024-03-015196107Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainabilityChuanglin Fang0Zhitao Liu1Institute of Geographical Sciences and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; School of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaInstitute of Geographical Sciences and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; School of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Corresponding author at: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. A11, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.The Anthropocene era is characterized by the escalating impact of human activities on the environment, as well as the increasingly complex interactions among various components of the Earth system. These factors greatly affect the Earth’s evolutionary trajectory. Despite notable strides in sustainable development practices worldwide, it remains unclear to what extent we have achieved Earth sustainability. Consequently, there is a pressing need to enhance conceptual and methodological frameworks to measure sustainability progress accurately. To address this need, we developed an Earth Vitality Framework that aids in tracking the Earth sustainability progress by considering interactions between spheres, recognizing the equal relationship between humans and nature, and presenting a threshold scheme for all measures. We applied this framework at global and national scales to demonstrate its usefulness. Our findings reveal that the current Earth Vitality Index is 63.74, indicating that the Earth is in a “weak” vitality. Irrational social institutions, unsatisfactory life experiences and the poor state of the biosphere and hydrosphere have remarkably affected the Earth vitality. Additionally, inequality exists between high-income and low-income countries. Although most of the former exhibit poor human-nature interaction, all of them enjoy good human well-being, while the opposite is true for the latter. Finally, we summarize the challenges and possible options for enhancing the Earth vitality in terms of coping with spillover effects, tipping cascades, feedback, and heterogeneity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266668392300069XMulti-sphereHuman-nature interactionSustainabilityEarth vitality framework |
| spellingShingle | Chuanglin Fang Zhitao Liu Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainability Geography and Sustainability Multi-sphere Human-nature interaction Sustainability Earth vitality framework |
| title | Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainability |
| title_full | Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainability |
| title_fullStr | Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainability |
| title_short | Earth vitality: An integrated framework for tracking Earth sustainability |
| title_sort | earth vitality an integrated framework for tracking earth sustainability |
| topic | Multi-sphere Human-nature interaction Sustainability Earth vitality framework |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266668392300069X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chuanglinfang earthvitalityanintegratedframeworkfortrackingearthsustainability AT zhitaoliu earthvitalityanintegratedframeworkfortrackingearthsustainability |