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In Just 60 Years, Neoliberal Capitalism Has Nearly Broken Planet Earth
Published on
Friday, January 16, 2015
by Common Dreams
That Was Easy: In Just 60 Years, Neoliberal Capitalism Has Nearly Broken Planet Earth
Pair of new studies show how various forms of human activity, driven by a flawed economic system and vast consumption, is laying waste to Earth's natural systems
by Jon Queally, staff writer
The conclusion that the world's dominant economic modela globalized form of neoliberal capitalism, largely based on international trade and fueled by extracting and consuming natural resourcesis the driving force behind planetary destruction will not come as a shock, but the model's detailed description of how this has worked since the middle of the 20th century makes a more substantial case than many previous attempts. (Photo: NASA)
Humanity's rapacious growth and accelerated energy needs over the last generationparticularly fed by an economic system that demands increasing levels of consumption and inputs of natural resourcesare fast driving planetary systems towards their breaking point, according to a new pair of related studies.
"It is difficult to overestimate the scale and speed of change. In a single lifetime humanity has become a geological force at the planetary-scale." Prof. Will Steffen
Prepared by researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the first study looks specifically at how "four of nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed as a result of human activity." Published in the journal Nature on Thursday, the 18 researchers involved with compiling evidence for the reporttitled 'Planetary Boundaries 2.0'found that when it comes to climate change, species extinction and biodiversity loss, deforestation and other land-system changes, and altered biogeochemical cycles (such as changes to how key organic compounds like phosphorus and nitrogen are operating in the environment), the degradation that has already take place is driving the Earth System, as a whole, into a new state of imbalance.
"Transgressing a boundary increases the risk that human activities could inadvertently drive the Earth System into a much less hospitable state, damaging efforts to reduce poverty and leading to a deterioration of human well-being in many parts of the world, including wealthy countries," said Professor Will Steffen, a researcher at the Centre and the Australian National University, Canberra, who was lead author for both studies.
Full story:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/16/was-easy-just-60-years-neoliberal-capitalism-has-nearly-broken-planet-earth
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In Just 60 Years, Neoliberal Capitalism Has Nearly Broken Planet Earth (Original Post)
newthinking
Jan 2015
OP
2naSalit
(86,061 posts)1. I'd say they broke
the biosphere, the planet will go on without us.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)2. At least since 1980, for sure.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)3. well, more like 40: since the 1900s it was technocracy that insisted we purge and level and dam
everything within arm's reach