Environmental Platform

Terra

A platform for Earth systems, climate, ecology, energy, and the planetary conditions of human civilization — treating the environment not as a backdrop but as an active, coupled system that human life is embedded within.

Terra sits at the planetary scale — see the ladder

Safe Zone Breached Boundary

Decarbonization Rate0%

Simulates transition to clean energy. Contracts climate, acidification, and aerosol boundaries.

Deforestation Control0%

Simulates rewilding and zero deforestation. Contracts land-system, biosphere, and water boundaries.

BREACHED

Climate change

Control Variable

Atmospheric CO₂ concentration & Radiative forcing

Safe limit / Current State

350 ppm / 430 ppm / 2.91 W/m²

Elevated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap excess heat in the Earth system, warming the planet and disrupting global meteorological equilibria.

Consequences: Accelerates glacier and ice sheet melt, raises sea levels, intensifies droughts, wildfires, and floods, and triggers climate tipping points.

WARNING: This boundary has been breached. Ecosystem stability is actively compromised.

Planetary Boundaries Inventory

Climate change

Breached

430 ppm / 2.91 W/m²

Biosphere integrity

Breached

> 100 E/MSY / < 84% BII

Land-system change

Breached

~60% global forest remaining

Freshwater change

Breached

> 18.2% global deviation

Biogeochemical flows

Breached

150 Tg N / 22 Tg P

Novel entities

Breached

Hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastics/PFAS annually

Ocean acidification

Breached

2.80 Ω

Atmospheric aerosols

Safe Zone

Global average safe; regional breaches (South Asia)

Ozone depletion

Safe Zone

~2% global reduction (steady recovery)

Planetary Signals

A small set of measured indicators sketches the direction of the coupled system: a warming atmosphere, a rising and acidifying ocean, thinning forests and wildlife, and an energy base still dominated by fossil fuels.

1.55 °C

WMO

above pre-industrial

2024 was the warmest year on record and the first calendar year to average more than 1.5 °C above the 1850–1900 baseline.

430 ppm

NOAA / Scripps

atmospheric CO₂

Monthly CO₂ at Mauna Loa first passed 430 ppm in May 2025; the 3.75 ppm annual jump in 2024 was the largest on record.

4.5 mm/yr

NASA

sea-level rise

The rate of global mean sea-level rise roughly doubled from 2.1 mm/yr in 1993 to 4.5 mm/yr in 2024, and continues to accelerate.

6.7M ha

Global Forest Watch / WRI

tropical primary forest lost

Tropical primary forest loss hit a record in 2024 — nearly double 2023 — with fire the leading driver for the first time.

73%

WWF / ZSL

wildlife population decline

The average size of monitored vertebrate populations fell 73% between 1970 and 2020; freshwater systems fell 85%.

86%

Energy Institute

primary energy from fossil fuels

Fossil fuels still supplied roughly 86% of global primary energy in 2024, even as wind and solar grew about 16%.

The Earth's Vital Signs

A patient is read through their vital signs; so is a planet. Terra's live dashboard charts the measured trends of the Earth system — population, climate, ocean, land, and waste — each from the 1970s with a projection toward 2050, linked back to the body that publishes it.

Open the planetary vital signs dashboard

Cross-platform couplings

This platform participates in shared feedback loops with the others. Explore the detailed analysis on the systems map.

On the ladder of scale

Terra spans multiple rungs — from the smallest relevant structures to the largest systems it interprets.

Initial Scope

Terra is a future platform. Its early scope spans the natural and human-shaped systems that together set the environmental terms of civilization.

Earth systemsClimateEcologyEnergyPlanetary boundariesHuman geographyBiosphere dynamicsFood, water, and land systemsHumans as a planetary force