Chemical Planetary Boundary
Researchers have finally been able to fill in a missing part of the Planetary Boundaries chart. The concept of Planetary Boundaries was developed in 2009 to show the boundaries we needed to operate within in order that "humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come. ... Crossing these boundaries increases the risk of generating large-scale, abrupt or irreversible environmental changes."
Research has finally been published for the Novel Entities section i.e. man made stuff. Researchers assessed the impact on the planet's stability of the cocktail of synthetic chemicals and other novel entities - plastics - that we have added to the environment. Needless to say the results are terrifying.
In 2018 over 2 billion kgs of pesticides were applied to the planet. How any modern researchers and government agencies can come back and say that such and such a chemical being used at industrial scale is safe for humanity and the planet boggles the mind.
We have to relearn to produce food without using buckets of poisons and synthetic fertilisers, our future literally depends on it.
Links:
https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries/the-nine-planetary-boundaries.html