20 Questions About Climate Change - What is the Great Acceleration?

Most people know of the "Baby Boom," or period when the population of the United States began to increase at a higher-than-average rate. During these years (1946 to 1964), over 78 million Americans were born¹. Many attribute the sudden population growth to the strength of the economy following World War II.

The Baby Boom was actually not isolated to the US and instead part of a global population increase. We reached one billion people around 1804, two billion in 1927, three in 1960, four in 1975, five in 1987 and six in 1999². The current world population is over eight billion. These jumps are happening faster than ever, with each increment coming in shorter duration from the last.

The Great Acceleration is a term used to define the planetary implications of this rapid population growth; it shows many of the human contributions to climate change since 1950. A higher population means that more people - especially those in affluent countries - generate significant demand for basic amenities, like electricity and water, as well as consumer goods. The Great Acceleration therefore marks a takeoff point from which human impact can be measured.

Earth’s resources are limited, yet the demand for them is consistently increasing. We therefore require more and more extraction of natural elements, plus their processing, to house, feed, clothe and entertain the world’s population.

Resource extraction is defined as any activity withdrawing natural materials from the Earth. We as humans extract resources in a number of ways: via forestry, mining, fishing, plus oil and gas production. We use these resources for making everything from toilet paper to computers.

Swedish environmental scientist Johan Rockström puts numbers to the Great Acceleration trends in his book, Breaking Boundaries: The Science of our Planet³, co-authored by science journalist Owen Gaffney. Their findings are staggering:

Fossil fuel usage is up over 500% since 1950. Fossil fuels are coal, oil and gas: all contributors to climate change. They are used for transportation and energy production, including heating and cooling.

Deforestation is also part of extraction. Forests provide habitat for 80% of all living animals and plants⁴. Forests also naturally remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so deforestation hinders humanity’s fight against atmospheric pollutants. Land use changes, overall, are what create the most habitat loss: the US loses 4000 acres of land daily to development, three acres a minute⁵.

Fishing, on a commercial scale, provides food to much of the world. Yet commercial fisheries have removed more than 33% of seafood from global coastal waters since 1950⁶.

Of course, we also use more electricity than ever before, in homes, businesses and industry. We also use more fresh water, which is up over 300% since 1950.

Agricultural chemical usage has also grown: On a global scale, overall applications are up 50-fold since 1962. The chemicals in use now are powerful as well. Fungicides and neonicotinoids are 70x more toxic than DDT⁷. Modern industry produces more (artificial) nitrogen than is naturally fixed on land⁸.

Overall, in terms of natural resource extraction, we’ve had a 1000% increase in the amount of materials taken since the 1950s.

1000% increase in natural resource extraction

We, as humans, tax the planet with our large population and high consumer demands. Some countries have greater standards of living than others. In the United States, we consume more than countries in the developing world. Natural resource usage is a fact of life, yet trends since the 1950s show us a concerning and unsustainable pattern for humankind. The Great Acceleration provides insight into how these resource habits have contributed to climate change and the adjustments required to protect younger generations.