Humanity may have run into trouble with planetary boundaries even in prehistoric times ... The invention of agriculture may have been a response to food scarcity as hunting and gathering cultures spread around, and filled up, the planet ... It’s pretty clear we were lowering the carrying capacity for hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago ... There are today more than 7 billion people, using an increasing quantity of resources, turning forest into farmland, boosting the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and driving other species to extinction ... Technology can potentially provide solutions, but innovations often come with unforeseen consequences ... The trends are toward layering on more and more technology so that we are more and more dependent on our technological systems to live outside these [planetary] boundaries . . . It becomes more and more like living on a spaceship than living on a planet. Scientists recommend setting boundaries to ensure environmental stability.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 19:56:29 +0000
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