OUR Planet Earth has already exceeded seven of eight scientifically established safety limits, thus entering the “danger zone,” according to a new study by an international team of Earth Commission scientists published in the journal Nature.

This research studies climate, air pollution, water pollution with phosphorus and nitrogen due to excessive use of fertilizers, ground water levels, surface fresh waters, undeveloped natural environment and the general natural and built environment.

This study has identified “hot spots” of problem areas – due to climate change – in Eastern Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, parts of Africa, and most of Brazil, Mexico, China, and the United States.. Among other things, scientists emphasize that about 2/3 of the Earth does not meet the safety criteria for fresh water.

If the planet Earth were now undergoing an annual examination, similar to what a person would do, “a doctor would say that the Earth is very, very sick right now,” said an environmental studies professor at the University of Amsterdam and his colleagues. Earth Commission leader Jogita Gupta.

However, according to scientists, the planet still has room to recover.

“We are moving in the wrong direction,” says Johan Rockström, director of the German Institute for Climate Research Potsdam.

A team of about 40 scientists involved in the Earth Commission study, published in the journal Nature, created measurable environmental category thresholds that define the points beyond which the situation becomes unsafe for the planet and for certain groups of people.

Rockstrom said these points create a “safety fence” beyond which the risks are higher, but not necessarily deadly.

A study published in 2009 in the journal Nature found that humanity had crossed three of the nine “terrestrial system limits,” as they were called, the limits beyond which planet Earth would essentially stop supporting human life.

Now this concept of “planetary boundaries” is being updated with the idea that all people, including the most vulnerable, should be able to have water, food, energy and health along with a clean environment.