Mankind’s Artificial Eco-system

Abstract

The proposition that the modern industrial embodiment of human civilization is propelling humankind towards ecocide is explored in this chapter. Ready access to cheap fossil fuels has ushered in the ages of steam, oil and electricity leading to mass transport, global travel, electronics, computers and the internet, but not at ‘zero cost’ as classical economics would maintain. The environmental consequences of industrialisation began to appear early in the project with smog and acid rain in the 1950s. To this was added ozone depletion in the 1970s, followed by greenhouse gases and global warming in the 1990s. With a rapidly expanding population fed by land devouring industrial farming practices mankind is creating an artificial ecosystem which is squeezing nature to the margins. It is clearly not sustainable.

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell

Edward Abbey

“The general public, businessmen, governments, and many business economists appear to believe that population and per capita consumption can grow indefinitely, and that eventually all economic inequities can be eliminated by growth itself. To me and my colleagues, this is an entirely unwarranted assumption—and debunking it may be the single most important task of environmental and resource economists

Paul R. Ehrlich