It’s time to talk about perpetual economic growth
Changing the course of the oncoming climate catastrophe is going to require a global solidarity that has never been seen before. ⠀
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Inaction risks irreversibly dooming human society as we know it.⠀
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According to prominent scientist Paul Ehrlich “environmental deterioration is infinitely more threatening to civilisation than Trumpism or Covid-19”.⠀
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Alongside individual actions like, using less fossil fuels, eating less meat, and having fewer children - we need to address the damaging effects of global capitalism and perpetual growth at the cost of the environment.⠀
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Perpetual growth is impossible on a planet with a limited amount of resources. A 2019 UN report states that 1 million animal and plant species are threatened by extinction in the next decade - many of them crabs.⠀
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In order to force growth and profit with less and less resources available, there must be a place where things are extracted on the cheap. These are known as ‘extraction’ zones - surprise surprise, these are located in the poorest parts of the world.⠀
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It is true that a system of capitalism has bought millions of people out of abject poverty. But it is equally true that many people have been forced into poverty with the same breath. Which is to say nothing for the non-human life that extraction for profit has made unlivable.⠀
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The environment needs an alternative, and humans need to stop living beyond their means. Our luxuries are at the expense of global ecology, and quite literally cost the earth.⠀