"no economy, however technologically advanced, can survive the collapse of its environmental support systems.
Resources that accumulated over eons of geological time are being consumed in a single human lifespan. We are crossing natural thresholds that we cannot see and violating deadlines that we do not recognize. These deadlines, determined by nature, are not politically negotiable.
We know from earlier civilizations that the lead indicators of economic decline were environmental, not economic. The trees went first, then the soil, and finally the civilization itself. To archeologists, the sequence is all too familiar.
Earlier civilizations that moved onto an economic path that was environmentally unstable did so largely in isolation. But in today's increasingly integrated, interdependent world economy, if we are facing civilization decline, we are facing it together. The fate of all peoples are intertwined.
2 comments:
So when do we hear more?
I've read some about this but never enough to get a big picture and feel comfortable with it. I understand Rome's decline began with loss of forests and farm land. I've read two books on Easter Island and the story appears to be the same -- destruction of environment.
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