Take home

In this module we have again focused on understanding the problem. The main message in this module is that in order to be able to create sustainability we must ensure that we have the necessary feedback from the environment into our social and economic systems. On a general level, this means bringing back the emotional and social attachment to the natural support systems of human life, not only food and timber, but also the regulating services that provide so much we take for granted. The concept of ecosystem services is one way to communicate the processes that are required to uphold human well-being in the long term. Landscape change is one important planetary boundary that has arguably the highest impact on the sustainability of ecosystem services. Try to understand the main causes of land use change since it is also directly linked to biodiversity loss. Biodiversity loss may well be the most pressing planetary boundary due to its irreversibility and its complex role in virtually every ecosystem process. If you understand the main causes of land use change, it also should become clear how food production systems are part of the loop that that needs to be closed for humanity to reconnect to the biosphere.