Entering a New World

Our global economy is outgrowing the capacity of the earth to
support it, moving our early twenty-first century civilization
ever closer to decline and possible collapse. In our preoccupation
with quarterly earnings reports and year-to-year economic
growth, we have lost sight of how large the human enterprise
has become relative to the earth’s resources. A century ago,
annual growth in the world economy was measured in billions
of dollars. Today it is measured in trillions.

As a result, we are consuming renewable resources faster
than they can regenerate. Forests are shrinking, grasslands are
deteriorating, water tables are falling, fisheries are collapsing,
and soils are eroding. We are using up oil at a pace that leaves
little time to plan beyond peak oil. And we are discharging
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere faster than nature can
absorb them, setting the stage for a rise in the earth’s temperature
well above any since agriculture began.