Recently, we’ve heard about ‘the death of environmentalism’ because – allegedly – the world’s corporations now understand ecology and will solve our problems with investment, innovation, and gung-ho optimism. Of course, what the investors want to create with all that optimism and ingenuity are profits, not real sustainability. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">

Critics regularly accuse environmentalists of being ‘doom and gloom’ prognosticators who complain of endless problems, but offer ‘no solutions’. However, if we check the record, we’ll discover that serious ecologists have been offering solutions for centuries.

(more…)

As a global community, we often appear as a dysfunctional family. We bicker constantly, the strong abuse the weak, and alleged leaders behave like addicts, unwilling to change the destructive habits that are destroying our home. As in any abusive relationship, the powerful proclaim a taboo against protest and vilify those who cry out as the crazy ones. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">

  (more…)

Global warming is a symptom of human overshoot: the consumption and waste that exceeds the biophysical capacity of the Earth. If we attempt to reduce the fever, but ignore the disease, we will, at best, extend the suffering.  < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">

Most species, when confronted with abundant food and no predators, will outgrow their environment. Locusts or pine beetles will devour their hosts and crash. Bacteria in a petri dish will exhaust the food capacity and breed themselves to death. This is overshoot. 

  (more…)