Planetary Solvency: Why Our Future Depends on Protecting Nature

March 2, 2025 / activist360

Cover of “Planetary solvency – finding our balance with nature: Global risk management for human prosperity” study.

The Big Picture

Imagine waking up to find grocery store shelves half-empty, the price of fresh produce soaring, and unpredictable storms disrupting everyday life. This isn’t science fiction—it’s a growing reality as our planet’s climate shifts in dangerous ways.

Scientists warn that unless we change course, we risk reaching Planetary Insolvency—a state where nature can no longer support human needs. But here’s the good news: we still have time to act. Understanding the risks and making smarter choices today can help us create a future where people and nature thrive together.

What Is Planetary Solvency?

Think about a business. If it spends more money than it earns, it eventually goes bankrupt. Our planet works in a similar way—if we take more from nature than it can regenerate, we risk collapsing the very systems that support life.

Planetary Solvency is the idea that we must manage Earth’s resources wisely to keep society stable. This means keeping our air and water clean, protecting forests and oceans, and ensuring that nature continues to provide the essentials we rely on—like food, water, and a livable climate.

For decades, economies have focused on short-term profit without considering the environmental “debt” we’re racking up. Now, we’re starting to see the consequences—but it’s not too late to course-correct.

The Warning Signs: Key Statistics You Need to Know

Climate scientists and risk analysts have uncovered troubling trends that show just how urgent this issue is:

The past 12 months were the hottest on record, with global temperatures averaging 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (Trust et al., 2025).
A key ocean current system (AMOC) has a 45% chance of collapsing by 2040. This would cause extreme weather shifts, including stronger hurricanes, longer droughts, and disrupted food production.
If global warming reaches 2.5°C, over 50% of land suitable for growing wheat and maize could be lost, making food shortages more common.
Economic risk models ignore 87% of industries, assuming they won’t be affected by climate change. This is a dangerous miscalculation—nearly all businesses depend on stable natural systems.
Some projections estimate that climate-driven disasters could reduce global GDP by up to 63% by 2100, leading to widespread economic instability.

The takeaway? Climate change isn’t just about rising temperatures—it affects food security, jobs, public health, and global stability.

Why Current Climate Plans Are Not Enough

Many governments have pledged to cut carbon emissions and protect ecosystems, but current efforts fall short. Here’s why:

The Paris Agreement didn’t account for tipping points: Climate disasters don’t happen in isolation. When one event (like Arctic ice melting) triggers another (such as changing ocean currents), the effects spiral out of control. Many climate policies fail to consider this domino effect.
Short-term economic focus: Many governments prioritize economic growth over environmental stability, even though our economy depends on nature—from agriculture to clean water to disaster resilience.
Underestimated risks: Climate models often leave out the worst-case scenarios because they are hard to predict. However, ignoring unlikely but catastrophic events is a major risk management failure.

In short, we need stronger and more realistic climate policies that recognize the full scale of the threat.

What Needs to Change: The RESILIENCE Plan

To prevent Planetary Insolvency, experts recommend a RESILIENCE-based approach, which includes:

Better Risk Assessments: Governments and businesses need realistic climate risk models—like financial audits, but for Earth’s health.
Stronger Policies: Enforceable limits on pollution, deforestation, and overfishing.
Faster Emissions Reductions: The longer we wait, the harder it becomes to prevent extreme warming.
Restoring Nature: Protecting and rebuilding ecosystems like forests and wetlands, which absorb carbon and prevent natural disasters.
Educating Leaders: Many policymakers lack a deep understanding of climate risk. We need climate-literate decision-makers who can balance economic growth with sustainability.

The path forward isn’t just about stopping damage—it’s about creating a world where nature and people thrive together.

What Can YOU Do?

While governments and businesses play a major role, individuals can make a difference too. Here are some ways to take action:

Stay Informed: Read about climate solutions, not just problems. Understanding what works can help shape smarter decisions.
Push for Policy Change: Vote for leaders and support policies that prioritize sustainability. Your voice matters.
Make Smarter Choices: Support businesses committed to sustainable practices. Reduce waste and be mindful of energy consumption.
Spread Awareness: Talk about these issues with friends and family. Many people want to help but don’t know where to start.

These small steps, when multiplied across millions of people, can drive real change.

Summing Up

The future isn’t set in stone. What we do today will determine whether our planet remains livable or spirals into crisis. By managing Earth’s resources as carefully as we manage money, we can protect future generations and ensure a stable, thriving world.The good news? We still have time to act—but the clock is ticking. Will we make the right choice?

Source: Trust, S., Saye, L., Bettis, O., Bedenham, G., Hampshire, O., Lenton, T. M., & Abrams, J. (2025, January). Planetary solvency – finding our balance with nature: Global risk management for human prosperity. Institute and Faculty of Actuaries & Exeter University.

Global Impact of Melting Snow and Ice

January 5, 2025 / activist360

Two Antartica icebergs floating on calm water with intricate, wave-like formations, set against a dark icy landscape in a serene polar environment. Photo by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash.

How Melting Ice Shapes Our Climate, Water, and Future—and What We Can Do to Protect It

Did you know that Greenland is losing 30 million tons of ice every hour? This isn’t just a shocking statistic—it’s a wake-up call. The melting of the world’s ice isn’t just a problem for cold regions; it’s an issue that impacts all of us, from the water we drink to the air we breathe. This week we examine the importance of Earth’s ice, the alarming changes it’s undergoing, and why it matters to your life.

The Big Picture: What Is the Cryosphere?

The “Cryosphere” might sound like a complicated word, but it simply means all the parts of Earth covered in snow and ice. This includes glaciers, ice sheets, permafrost (frozen ground), and sea ice.

Why does the cryosphere matter?

Temperature Regulation: The cryosphere reflects sunlight, keeping the planet cool, much like a natural air conditioner.
Water Storage: It stores about 70% of the world’s fresh water, feeding rivers and supporting billions of people.

Without the Cryosphere, Earth would be hotter, drier, and much less hospitable.

Alarming Changes in Ice and Snow

The Cryosphere is changing fast, and the consequences are already being felt worldwide. Greenland is losing ice at an unprecedented rate, enough to raise sea levels significantly in the coming decades. Glaciers in the Alps and Himalayas are melting at record levels, threatening water supplies for millions of people downstream.

In addition, Antarctic sea ice is shrinking, with three consecutive years of record lows. This destabilizes the Antarctic ice sheet, which could lead to catastrophic sea-level rise. And, frozen ground in Arctic regions is thawing, releasing harmful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. This accelerates global warming and damages infrastructure in those regions.

Why It Matters to You

Melting ice may seem like a distant problem, but its effects are closer to home than you think.

Rising Seas: As ice melts, sea levels rise, threatening coastal cities and communities. Major cities like New York, Miami, and Mumbai face increased flooding risks.
Water Supply: Snow and ice act as reservoirs, releasing water during warmer months. With less snowpack, regions like the Himalayas and Andes face water shortages, impacting agriculture and drinking supplies for billions.
Changing Weather: Melting ice disrupts weather patterns, leading to stronger storms, unpredictable rainfall, and even impacts on fisheries as oceans warm and acidify.

The Path Ahead: What Scientists Say

The Cost of Inaction

If emissions continue at current levels, global temperatures could rise by 3°C or more by the end of this century. This would push many regions beyond their ability to adapt, leading to economic and human costs that are unimaginable.

Hope Through Action

The good news? Scientists agree that if we act now to limit warming to 1.5°C, we can slow ice loss and reduce long-term damage. This requires cutting emissions by 50% by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050.

What Can Be Done?

Global Solutions

To address the challenges posed by melting ice and its global impacts, reducing emissions is a critical step. Transitioning to renewable energy sources like wind and solar can significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions, slowing the pace of global warming and ice loss. Additionally, protecting vulnerable areas is essential. Investing in resilient infrastructure and implementing policies designed to safeguard communities can help mitigate the risks of rising seas and water shortages, ensuring these regions are better prepared for the future.

Individual Steps

You don’t have to be a scientist or policymaker to make a difference. Here’s how you can help:

Advocate for climate-friendly policies in your community.
Use public transport, conserve energy, and support sustainable products.
Spread awareness by sharing what you’ve learned with friends and family.

Summing Up

Saving the world’s ice isn’t just about preserving glaciers—it’s about protecting our homes, food, and future. The actions we take today will shape the world for ourselves as well as future generations. Each degree of warming we prevent reduces the risks to our planet and ourselves. Let’s work together to ensure that ice continues to cool the Earth, sustain life, and inspire hope for a better tomorrow.

International Cryosphere Climate Initiative. (2024). State of the cryosphere 2024: Lost ice, global damage. International Cryosphere Climate Initiative. Retrieved from https://iccinet.org/statecryo24/.

Rethinking AI’s Energy Consumption: New Report

February 11, 2024 / activist360

Photo of night lights from space by NASA on Unsplash.

We read the new report by the Center for Data Inno vation entitled Rethinking Concerns About AI’s Energy Use and share our key takeaways below. The Center for Data Innovation is a leading think tank studying the intersection of data, technology, and public policy.

Revisiting the Energy Consumption Myths of Digital Progress

The concerns surrounding the energy consumption of digital technologies are not a recent phenomenon. Historically, predictions have often overstated the environmental impact of technological advancements. For example, during the late 1990s, it was inaccurately predicted that the digital economy would consume half of the electric grid’s capacity. These estimates have consistently been proven wrong, as evidenced by the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) current estimation that data centers and data transmission networks each account for only about 1–1.5% of global electricity use.

Similarly, the energy consumption attributed to streaming services like Netflix has been grossly overestimated. Initial claims equated watching 30 minutes of Netflix to driving almost 4 miles, a figure later corrected to resemble the energy used for driving between 10 and 100 yards. Such errors highlight the importance of accurate data and assumptions in forming energy policies.

AI’s Energy Use

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) gains momentum, it faces scrutiny similar to past technologies. Critics fear that AI’s energy consumption, especially for training large deep learning models, could have severe environmental repercussions. However, early claims about AI’s energy use have often been exaggerated. To address these concerns effectively, the report advocates for several policy measures:

Developing Energy Transparency Standards: Establish clear guidelines for AI model energy consumption to ensure transparency and informed decision-making.
Voluntary Commitments on Energy Transparency: Encourage the AI industry to adopt voluntary measures for disclosing the energy use of foundation models.
Evaluating AI Regulations’ Unintended Consequences: Consider how regulations might inadvertently impact AI’s energy efficiency and innovation.
Leveraging AI for Decarbonization: Utilize AI technologies to enhance the energy efficiency of government operations and promote decarbonization efforts.

With diminishing returns on enhancing model accuracy due to already high-performance levels, the focus of AI models (such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini) is increasingly shifting towards optimization. Developers are now more inclined to refine AI models for efficiency rather than pursue marginal accuracy gains. This pivot reflects a maturing industry where optimization takes precedence, aiming for sustainable advancement without the unsustainable expansion of model sizes.

Further, the report also points out that AI offers significant potential to mitigate climate change and support clean energy by optimizing the integration of renewable sources into the grid and enhancing the efficiency of the electric grid through predictive maintenance, grid management, and dynamic pricing across transportation, agriculture, and energy sectors. This suggests a future where AI improvements are nuanced, focusing on energy efficiency and specialized performance enhancements.

Towards a Sustainable AI Future

The path to a sustainable AI future involves demystifying the technology’s actual energy footprint, addressing misconceptions, and implementing policies that promote transparency and efficiency. By learning from past misestimations and focusing on accurate data, we can ensure that AI contributes positively to our environmental goals, debunking myths and fostering innovation that aligns with sustainability.