Excerpts from a strongly worded piece published by The Irish Times...
_______________________________
The sheer magnitude of the biodiversity crisis is laid bare in the biannual Living Planet Index compiled by the World Wildlife Fund. Their latest report from 2022 showed there was a 69% collapse in monitored wildlife populations since 1970.
In 2018, when the decline was “only” 60%, their report lambasted “exploding human consumption” as “the driving force behind the unprecedented planetary change we are witnessing, through the increased demand for energy, land and water.”
However, these reports do not delve into why consumption of land and resources has exploded in this time. Anna Pigott, a lecturer in human geography at Swansea University in Wales, criticises WWF for failing to identify capitalism as the crucial link between galloping levels of consumption and the destruction of nature.
“By naming capitalism as a root cause,” says Pigott, “we identify a particular set of practices and ideas that are by no means permanent nor inherent to the condition of being human” and that “if we don’t name it, we can’t tackle it.”
If capitalism is the overriding driver of runaway consumption of resources, and so the collapse of biological systems, it is remarkable how it has been nearly absent in debates around the ecological crisis.
Curtailing consumption is the conversation nobody wants to have. Talk of how we can transition to a post-capitalist society has not yet made it into mainstream debate. Yet, there is no escaping these issues if there is to be a safe and equitable future for everyone on this planet.
_______________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/2024/08/08/capitalism-is-killing-the-planet-but-curtailing-it-is-the-discussion-nobody-wants-to-have/
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #BioDiversity #Capitalism #Degrowth
