It took nearly four billion years after the birth of the Earth to make our planet habitable in terms of marine and terrestrial environment, resources, and life. This was made possible because of Earth’s unique tectonic system of recycling of critical elements through plate tectonics and subduction. However, with the spiraling growth in population and fast depletion of metallic resources, modern civilization is facing a severe energy crisis, in addition to the challenges to environment and life posed by anthropogenic activities and climate change. Here we present an outline of the evolutionary tectonic and geodynamic history of Earth from its birth into a habitable planet. We briefly address the current challenges that humans face in the fields of energy, environment, resources, and climate towards achieving sustainability of our modern civilization. We also evaluate the paradox of Net Zero targets, particularly in terms of the fast depletion of non-renewable critical metals required for alternate energy, as well as the threat of increasing ‘graveyards’ from green energy toxic waste enveloping the globe. We alert the unsound concepts being propagated, as viewed from a geological scale and geoscience perspective, on global warming and sea level changes. Our study emphasizes the need for a holistic logical and well-integrated scientific approach, rather than a one-dimensional climate science view, to effectively address the challenges of the planet’s sustainability.

中文翻译：

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从宜居星球到可持续文明：全球气候变化以及相关的清洁能源转型依赖于关键金属资源的减少


地球诞生后，花了近四十亿年的时间才使我们的星球在海洋和陆地环境、资源和生命方面变得适宜居住。这之所以成为可能，是因为地球独特的构造系统通过板块构造和俯冲作用回收关键元素。然而，随着人口的急剧增长和金属资源的快速枯竭，现代文明除了面临人类活动和气候变化对环境和生命带来的挑战外，还面临着严重的能源危机。在这里，我们概述了地球从诞生到宜居行星的演化构造和地球动力学历史。我们简要阐述了当前人类在能源、环境、资源和气候领域面临的挑战，以实现现代文明的可持续发展。我们还评估了净零目标的悖论，特别是替代能源所需的不可再生关键金属的快速耗尽，以及覆盖全球的绿色能源有毒废物造成的“墓地”不断增加的威胁。从地质尺度和地球科学的角度来看，我们对正在传播的有关全球变暖和海平面变化的不合理概念发出警告。我们的研究强调需要一种整体逻辑和综合性的科学方法，而不是一维的气候科学观点，以有效应对地球可持续性的挑战。