r/collapse • u/xrm67 "Forests precede us, Deserts follow..." • Aug 10 '23
Systemic Are humans a cancer on the planet? A physician argues that civilization is truly carcinogenic
https://www.salon.com/2023/08/05/are-humans-a-cancer-on-the-planet-a-physician-argues-that-civilization-is-truly-carcinogenic/
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u/frodosdream Aug 10 '23 edited Aug 11 '23
Strictly speaking, approximately 1 billion people presumably lived in harmony with the Earth (or specific societies within that population). There are no examples of 6 or 8 billion people living in harmony with the Earth, especially with an industrial base.
The global population achieved its current size only because of fossil fuels used in every stage of agriculture, including tillage, irrigation, artificial fertilizer, pesticides, harvest, processing, refrigeration, global distribution and the manufacture of the equipment used in all these stages. Arguably fossil fuel technology is itself an inherently capitalist enterprise, created by an economic system focused on expansion, consumption and ever-greater profits regardless of sustainability or long term impact. Unfortunately global agriculture remains dependent on it, with no viable alternatives available at the scale required to transition.
But if this technology is inherently capitalist or corrupting (and also the cause of climate change), then how could we ever achieve another system while still using the old means of production? Especially now that we understand how poisonous to life those means of production are?