Risks for climate, ecosystem and societal collapse are increasing
Posted by jonbyrdt@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 20 comments
Many argue that we are facing increasing risks for climate, ecosystem and societal collapse:
Climate collapse: For decades, we have known that greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change, and still we have let CO2 levels in the atmosphere continue to increase. And by cutting down forests and polluting the oceans we have also reduced the planet’s CO2 absorption capacity. As a result, temperatures are rising and extreme climate events are increasing, with droughts, fires and floods causing death and destruction on increasing scale and impact.
Ecosystem collapse: Human activities like unsustainable use of land, water and energy, and climate change have triggered the sixth mass extinction, which threatens up to 1 million of the approximately 10 billon species on earth. If we allow this to continue it will threaten the natural systems that sustain us and our economy.
Societal collapse: The societal impacts of increasing wealth inequalities have been studied by Luke Kemp at Cambridge University in the rise and fall of 400 societies over 5,000 years. He found that increasing wealth inequalities always preceded societal collapse, driven by a dominating, enriched, status-obsessed elite, whose extraction of more and more resources and wealth from land and people made societies fragile due to corruption, infighting, land degradation and poor health.
Action is needed! We must take these threats and risks seriously and try to better understand both the drivers and how we best can reverse these developments and reduce the risks for climate, ecosystem and societal collapse, as outlined in the this TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZqLdVqGs7k
03263@reddit
lol a couple weeks ago someone I got in debate with someone on here claiming to be an economist that said economic growth is not predicated on material resources
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
Yes there are a lot of misconceptions, and efforts by the industries and billionaires who benefit from the continued reliance on our neoliberally super-charged greed- and growth-driven capitalist economy, which allows companies to exploit both the planet and the people for increased profits and wealth hoarding, which drives the triple planetary crisis and increases inequalities to absurd levels. As voters we must put an end to this in the next election to ensure that we get leaders that can chart a new course to a more sustainable, circular and just economy where we focus on sufficiency and wellbeing for all, cooperating for the common good and prioritising social outcomes over private profits, as outlined further in the TEDx talk in the OP.
Kulty@reddit
"Risk is increasing"... what, from 99.8% to 99.99%?
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
Increasing enough for us to take the related threats more seriously than most do today, including politicians that are more keen to get re-elected than address these urgent challenges.
Kulty@reddit
My point is that framing it as a "risk" makes it seem like it might or might not happen, when in fact it is already happening. Unless we build a time machine, the discussion about risk and probability is moot.
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
Yes you are right, which is why we should address the core problem, our neoliberally super-charged greed- and growth-driven capitalist economy, which allows companies to exploit both the planet and the people for increased profits and wealth hoarding. This not only drives the triple planetary crisis but also increases inequalities to absurd levels. To reduce the risks we must chart a new course to a more sustainable, circular and just people- and planet centred economy where we focus on sufficiency and wellbeing for all, cooperating for the common good and prioritising social outcomes over private profits, as outlined further in the TEDx talk linked in the OP.
Kulty@reddit
Have you been in a coma since 2010? We are now at the point of dealing with the fallout of not doing those things in time. Collapse is happening, and neoliberal capitalism will go down with the rest of the ship. What comes next will depend on who and what survives the next 20 years.
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
Yes I agree, but there is still time and there are upcoming elections where we can vote for leaders that both understand the challenges and are clever and brave enough to take the discussions needed to address them.
Kulty@reddit
Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
extinction6@reddit
3,633,090,848 Hiroshima atomic bombs of heat since 1998 https://skepticalscience.com/
‘It’s too late’: David Suzuki says the fight against climate change is lost https://www.ipolitics.ca/2025/07/02/its-too-late-david-suzuki-says-the-fight-against-climate-change-is-lost/
Climate - Prof Kevin Anderson | National Emergency Briefing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI8z6A0c5Q4 13:49 In my view ti is too late
How are 900 billion tons of CO2 going to be removed from the atmosphere? The money that is needed is being spent on weapons by many countries in the world.
"We must take these threats and risks seriously" and start telling people to stop having children.
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
Yes I agree that it is challenging, but there is still time and there are upcoming elections where we can vote for leaders that both understand the challenges and are clever and brave enough to take the discussions needed to address them.
NyriasNeo@reddit
"We must take these threats and risks seriously"
No we don't. There is no "must" in politics. We can always live with, or die from, the consequences.
In fact, I bet not enough people take these threats and risks seriously. "Drill baby drill" won, you know.
miklayn@reddit
It's implied that we "must" if we want to live or ever move toward a more just society, and guess what? Some of us actually fucking care about stuff like that.
NyriasNeo@reddit
"Some of us actually fucking care about stuff like that."
Like I said, not enough people give enough of a fuck. "More just society"? They don't even care about how these risks affect themselves. "More just" has zero chance.
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
Yes, and this is what brings us even closer to collapse. The problem is our neoliberally super-charged greed- and growth-driven capitalist economy, which allows companies to exploit both the planet and the people for increased profits and wealth hoarding, which drives the triple planetary crisis and increases inequalities to absurd levels. Those benefitting from this are the ones that bribe politicians to push "drill baby drill" policies, which we as voters should put an end to in the next election to ensure that we get leaders that can chart a new course to a more sustainable, circular and just people- and planet centred economy where we focus on sufficiency and wellbeing for all, cooperating for the common good and prioritising social outcomes over private profits, as outlined further in the TEDx talk linked in the OP.
Sasquatch97@reddit
Action is needed! Yes, to kiss my ass goodbye
Flaccidchadd@reddit
It's way too late to fix the climate, the permafrost is melting, the ocean is belching methane, the climate is in a transition phase that will bring the 6th mass extinction. Don't worry rats and roaches will be fine
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
Let's hope that there still is time to allow us to vote for leaders willing to take the action needed to chart a course to a more sustainable, circular and just people- and planet centred economy where we focus on sufficiency and wellbeing for all, cooperating for the common good and prioritising social outcomes over private profits, as outlined further in the TEDx talk linked in the OP.
RadiantRole266@reddit
Is this AI generated?
jonbyrdt@reddit (OP)
No it is not. If you check the TEDx talk linked in the OP you will see that it is inspired by the messages in that talk.