Planetary Boundaries

Grades9, 10, 11, 12Earth and Space Sciences

Provided by King's Centre for Visualization in Science

What it is

This interactive tool shows how different variables, such as biosphere integrity, land use, and biochemical flows, have changed since 1900.
Students explore a wedge diagram in which each wedge is an Earth-system process monitored by control variables, with color-coded markers showing whether each process is at low risk or has crossed a boundary into high risk.

Key Takeaway

Students will learn that all of Earth's processes are interconnected, meaning a change to one process will affect the other parts of the Earth system.

Prerequisites

The resource includes an extensive glossary of terms that teachers can teach students before the lesson.

Classroom Implementation

This is a self-paced interactive tool; students select wedges in the diagram to learn about individual Earth-system processes and how each is monitored.
Additional tabs provide background on the framework before students explore the diagram.
Use this tool to introduce systems thinking, having students trace how a change in one Earth-system process can feed back to affect others.
Have students compare the boundaries framework to the blood-pressure analogy and discuss the strengths and limits of using thresholds as warning signs.

Differentiation

Pair students to navigate the diagram together and summarize one process each before sharing with the class.

Connections to the Sustainable Development Goals

This resource can be used to make connections to Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Action and Sustainable Development Goal 15, Life on Land.

This resource is recommended to give educators an idea of the changes in the biosphere triggered by climate change and human activities.

Hosted on applets.kcvs.ca

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Standards alignment · HS-ESS2-2 + 3 more

Science and Engineering

HS-ESS2-2Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
HS-ESS3-3Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.
HS-ESS3-5Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth’s systems.
HS-ESS3-6Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.