Even this morning, I saw this type of comment on social media.
I am not sure if people actually believe it or if they are intentionally trolling. Maybe it’s some of each.
It doesn’t take much to understand the essence of our situation: We live on a finite planet, and we live as if the planet is infinite. That cannot last. If we continue, it will lead to the collapse of ecosystems – beyond what we are already seeing. We are part of the living systems of this planet, so what happens to the web of life happens to us.
In short, our civilization – founded on an assumption of separation and infinite Earth – is inherently ecocidal and suicidal.
We got away with it for centuries and millennia since we were not that many, our technology was not that effective, and the “savings account” of Earth was large. Now, with a population beyond eight billion people, a far more effective technology, and a rapidly declining ecological savings account, we are in global ecological overshoot.
We are using more resources than Earth can replenish. We need more than one Earth to support our collective way of life as it is today, and we don’t have those extra Earths.
Being in ecological overshoot is similar to living off a savings account and a dwindling income far below what’s needed to replenish the savings account. It looks fine for a while until we reach the bottom of our savings account and our lifestyle comes crashing down.
In terms of our global ecological overshoot, we are getting closer to the bottom and we are seeing signs of it everywhere: Insect apocalypse. Rapid loss of the number of most animals. Rapid loss of fertile topsoil. Rapid loss of species. Unraveling ecosystems. More extreme weather. And much more.
What we are seeing is exactly what we would expect seeing, and what scientists have predicted for decades.
Collectively, we are like someone living off a savings account, and increasing spending rather than finding ways to reduce spending and increase the income.
How can we increase our income from Earth? The simplest and most direct is regeneration. We can apply existing to regenerate ecosystems and develop new ones. In the process, we will increase the yield of these ecosystems in terms of food and several other natural resources which will benefit wildlife, ourselves, and future generations.
When we take ecological realities seriously, we can create a world of abundance and a civilization that’s more ecologically sound and has the possibility of lasting longer.
The question is how far into the collapse we’ll go before a significant number of us realizes this, and how many of us will die before we get to that point.
The question is also what we will do in this age of unraveling. How do I chose to live my life?
I am in the fortunate situation that we have land in the Andes that we are regenerating and developing into a food forest. If I was in another situation, I would find another way. For instance, connecting with likeminded people. Learning and sharing what I learn. Making my yard into a food forest. Working on transforming public spaces into food forests. And so on.