行星会计 - 变革平台

Kate Meyer

Images of polar bears on disappearing icecaps, desert landscapes, and extreme weather events litter the media. Climate change is no longer something of the future, it is happening all around us. Scientists are calling for action – presenting daunting findings about how far beyond Earth’s environmental limits we now are.

面对这个大小的问题，似乎几乎不可能知道从哪里开始。人们正在经历“气候疲劳”的绝望感，即问题太大，最终目标不清楚。

That’s where Planetary Accounting comes in. In a发表在Sustainable Earth，我们为解决全球问题并将其分解成可管理的块。我们展示了如何在从个人和社区到商业，城市和国家规模的不同活动范围内确定可持续性的最终目标。本文开始解决我们需要做的事情的问题。

人们正在经历“气候疲劳”的绝望感，即问题太大，最终目标不清楚。

2009年，主要科学家提出了9行星边界– global environmental limits such as for the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the number of species extinctions each year, and the remaining forestland. Together these limits define a “safe operating space” for humanity – within which the risk of changing the state of the planet from one that is hospital to one that is hostile to humanity is low. We have currently exceeded four of the Boundaries. The situation is urgent.

尽管行星边界对情况的幅度和紧迫性提供了重要的见解，但它们并没有轻易转化为政策和行动。他们没有告诉我们需要做些什么才能返回安全的操作空间。如何开始将全球物种灭绝的责任分为不同国家，城市，企业或个人？

行星会计提供了从行星边界到政策和行动的链接。行星配额 - “环境货币”中人类活动的限制，例如最大的年度碳排放，最低造林率和最大土地使用，源自行星边界。

每个配额都以可衡量的单位为单位，可以在世界人口中划分。这样，国家，企业甚至个人都可以开始理解他们在安全操作空间中的份额。如果可以将行星边界与地球的健康检查进行比较，则行星配额是健康星球的处方。

行星会计方法不仅仅是将我们的全球环境挑战分为更易于管理的块。它将关于可持续性的对话从一个重点放在困难的现场到的对话到集中在充满希望的未来的对话中。

The current norm is to look at how far we can reduce environmental impacts from the status quo; to make progress through incremental change. In contrast, the Planetary Accounting approach presents the question, “how can we get to where we want to be?” It provides a platform for innovative and transformational change.

Further, it connects efforts at different scales. Global negotiations, individual behavior change programs, national legislation, and business sustainability targets could all operate under the same framework – giving a stronger sense of collective action. A “planetary facts” labeling system – similar to the nutritional facts labeling found on many food products – could be used to generate consumer accountability. Smart phone apps could allow individuals to compete with one another to live within the planet’s limits.

A not-for-profit research center called the行星会计网络(PAN) has recently been launched to further the research presented in the Planetary Accounting article. It is a member-based organization seeking to create an international community of like-minded people who can help drive change towards the safe-operating-space.

锅里的愿景是让人们生活在一个他lthy planet. They believe that by quantifying what is needed to restore and sustain the global environment at different scales, they can help to realize this vision.

Planetary Accounting is not a silver-bullet for our global environmental crisis. There is a lot of work to do to return to the safe operating space. However, Planetary Accounting may help us tackle the problem by answering the question – what can YOU do to help.