{"id":53791,"date":"2020-06-21T13:06:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-21T18:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=53791"},"modified":"2020-06-21T13:06:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-21T18:06:33","slug":"capitalism-is-destroying-safe-operating-space-for-humanity-warn-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=53791","title":{"rendered":"Capitalism is destroying \u2018safe operating space\u2019 for humanity, warn scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Capitalism is destroying \u2018safe operating space\u2019 for humanity, warn scientists<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Source: Steemit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The COVID19 pandemic has exposed a strange anomaly in the global economy. If it doesn\u2019t keep growing endlessly, it just breaks. Grow, or die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s a deeper problem. New scientific research confirms that capitalism\u2019s structural obsession with endless growth is destroying the very conditions for human survival on planet Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A landmark study<\/a> in the journal Nature Communications<\/em>, \u201cScientists\u2019 warning on affluence\u201d \u2014 by scientists in Australia, Switzerland and the UK \u2014 concludes that the most fundamental driver<\/em> of environmental destruction is the overconsumption of the super-rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This factor lies over and above other factors like fossil fuel consumption, industrial agriculture and deforestation: because it is overconsumption by the super-rich which is the chief driver of these other factors breaching key planetary boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper notes that the richest 10 percent of people are responsible for up to 43 percent of destructive global environmental impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the poorest 10 percent in the world are responsible just around 5 percent of these environmental impacts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese findings mean that environmental impact is to a large extent caused and driven by the world\u2019s rich citizens.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The new paper is authored by Thomas Wiedmann of UNSW Sydney\u2019s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Manfred Lenzen of the University of Sydney\u2019s School of Physics, Lorenz T. Keysser of ETH Z\u00fcrich\u2019s Department of Environmental Systems Science, and Julia K. Steinberger of Leeds University\u2019s School of Earth and Environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It confirms that global structural inequalities in the distribution of wealth are intimately related to an escalating environmental crisis threatening the very existence of human societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synthesising knowledge from across the scientific community, the paper identifies capitalism as the main cause behind \u201calarming trends of environmental degradation\u201d which now pose \u201cexistential threats to natural systems, economies and societies.\u201d The paper concludes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Capitalism is destroying \u2018safe operating space\u2019 for humanity, warn scientists The COVID19 pandemic has exposed a strange anomaly in the global economy. If it doesn\u2019t keep growing endlessly, it just breaks. Grow, or die. But there\u2019s a deeper problem. New scientific research confirms that capitalism\u2019s structural obsession with endless growth is destroying the very conditions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[29011,240,3518,6113,2092],"class_list":["post-53791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-environment","tag-covid-19","tag-economic-growth","tag-environmental-degradation","tag-insurge-intelligence","tag-nafeez-ahmed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53792,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53791\/revisions\/53792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}