Yes, capitalism is not tied to anything real. It’s just about putting a number on the exchange value of something, according to demand. It’s not rooted in reality beyond that, and it has no direction beyond that.
People need food, so it sells food – at a cost to the soil, insects, wildlife, ecosystem health, and future generations. People needs shelter, so it sells shelter – often to the profit of those already very wealthy and at a cost to those who have less.
Mainly, it’s not rooted in physical reality. It’s not rooted in the physical reality of this planet we call Earth.
It’s not rooted in the physical reality that we are local and temporary expressions of this living system, and that our health and well-being fully depend on a thriving and healthy planet Earth.
It’s not rooted in the physical reality of Earth as our literal larger body.
As it is, what’s easy and profitable is often harmful for people, ecosystems, and future generations.
If our economic system took ecological realities into account, what’s easy and profitable would help regenerate people, society, and ecosystems, and benefit all of us and future generations.
Yes, in its current form, capitalism produces global ecological overshoot.
It assumes infinite Earth, so it encourages consumption far beyond the capacity of Earth to regenerate itself.
Humanity is currently using far more resources than this living planet can regenerate, and that inevitably leads to ecological and civilizational collapse. This goes far beyond climate change, which is just one of many expressions of this overshoot.
And since it sells itself as the only realistic and viable economic system (although it’s far from realistic and far from viable), it sells its own solutions. Mainly, it sells techno-fixes.
It can only sell band-aid solutions, since it, itself, is the cause of the problem.
More to the point, it’s organized around assumptions of separation and infinite Earth, which is the real cause of the problem.
Yes, also true.
In our civilization, we talk as if science is our organizing principle. That’s not true. Capitalism is the organizing principle. Far too often, science is in the service of capitalism.
Far too often, the result of science is ignored if it doesn’t serve the narrow interests of capitalism. We see that with climate change. Climate change scientists ring the alarm bells, and society as a whole ignores it because they see it as inconvenient and costly to change.
Also, far too often, the focus of science is decided by what’s profitable. Important research is often not done because it’s not profitable enough, or goes against inherent assumptions of capitalism.