At the dawn of the industrial revolution less than 1 billion humans inhabited this earth. We’ve consumed only a small proportion of the easy to access ores of iron, copper and coal. With the power of coal we’ve became capable to tap a vast amount of new resources. Everything we did seemed miniature in scale compared to the vast resources and pollution sinks (the ocean and the atmosphere) of this planet. It was very easy to believe, that this is really an infinite world… An empty world — at least in economic terms — all there for the taking.
Back in 1950’s, when the great acceleration has really kicked into gear neoclassical economists started to believe that there are really no limits to growth. Needless to say, this observation was completely blindsided to the fact that this growth was due exclusively to a one-time boom in non-renewable resource extraction of both fossil fuels AND minerals.
This energy and material blindness was combined with a good deal of disregard for those who cared to do the math and begged to differ — an act of hubris lasting this very day. As a result, this ‘great acceleration’ has came at the cost of tipping the only habitable ecosystem (at least in a 4 light-year radius) into an irreversible decline.
If you have only 42 minutes to understand what is really going on our planet besides climate change, and would like to know what is this ‘great acceleration’ I’m blathering about, watch this very informative presentation from Will Steffen, emeritus professor of the Australian National University.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
