Simplifying the Eco-crises
Part 2 of the “Solving the Metacrisis” series
To rescue the human enterprise in the long run requires strong action in the short run directed toward saving biodiversity and bringing the human enterprise within sustainable limits – Paul Ehrlich
What is the decision-making that is creating the planet’s ecological crises as a whole?
The decision-making that is creating the planet’s ecological crises is a simple decision-making system for meeting human physical needs that may be called “the Human Enterprise.”[1]
What is the Human Enterprise?
The Human Enterprise is …
… the sum of all the human decisions to extract things from the biosphere …
… things like forests, fresh water, wildlife, soils and minerals -- that may be called the “Things-We-Extract” …
… plus all the physical flows of all those Things-We-Extract – things like forests, fresh water, wildlife, soils and minerals -- from the biosphere and into the Human Enterprise …
… plus all the human decisions to use all those Things-We-Extract -- in the forms of energy, water, materials & chemicals, food & fiber and manufactures & structures …
… things like energy, water, materials & chemicals, food & fiber and manufactures & structures that may be called the “Things-We-Use” …
… plus all the physical flows of all those Things-We-Use – things like energy, water, materials & chemicals, food & fiber and manufactures & structures -- within the Human Enterprise …
... plus all the physical flows of pollution from all those Things-We-Use from the Human Enterprise back into the biosphere …
This “map” of the Human Enterprise depicts the entire physical relationship between human beings and the biosphere as:
the sum of all the human decisions to adopt Things-We-Extract options and Things-We-Use options for meeting human physical needs, plus
the sum of all the physical flows of Things-We-Extract (things-we-extract flows), Things-We-Use (things-we-use flows) and pollution (pollution flows) created by all the human decisions to adopt Things-We-Extract options and Things-We-Use options …
Because human beings need both Things-We-Extract and Things-We-Use for meeting their human physical needs, the sum of all the human decisions to adopt Things-We-Extract options and Things-We-Use options may be called “Human Enterprise Decision-making” for meeting human physical needs.
The exponential growth of the Human Enterprise …
… has reached a point where the exponential damage to the biosphere from the exponentially growing things-we-extract flows and pollution flows of the Human Enterprise is outstripping the biosphere’s capacity to regenerate itself …
This exponential damage to the biosphere is showing up as the big nine global ecological crises identified by the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
These big nine planet-scale eco-crises are mapped as the orange areas beyond the biosphere’s regenerative capacity created by humanity’s “overshoot” of “planetary boundaries” …
The exponential damage to the biosphere as a whole from the things-we-extract flows of the Human Enterprise (shown in blue-gray) is showing up as:
eco-crises of freshwater depletion
eco-crises of deforestation and expanding deserts, and
eco-crises of species extinctions and biodiversity loss …
The exponential damage to the biosphere as a whole from the pollution flows of the Human Enterprise (shown in orange) is showing up as:
eco-crises of global warming and climate change
eco-crises of synthetic pollutants such as herbicides, pesticides and microplastics
eco-crises of ozone layer depletion
eco-crises of aerosol pollutants such as dust, smoke and sulfates
eco-crises of ocean acidification, and
eco-crises of phosphorus and nitrogen pollutants in rivers and coastal seas …
The human decision-making that is creating the planet’s eco-crises may be mapped – within the doughnut-shaped space – as the Human Enterprise Decision-making for meeting human physical needs, which is creating the planet’s ecological crises …
When one understands that Human Enterprise Decision-making for meeting human physical needs is creating the planet’s eco-crises, one can design a simple decision-making process for reversing the eco-crises.
One can design a simple decision-making process for creating the ecologically safe space for humanity envisioned by Doughnut Economics.
[1] This simple decision-making system for meeting human physical needs also may be called “the Superorganism.”
In the next article, you will learn the simple decision-making system – called “Political Economic Decision-making” for deciding who-gets-what – that is creating human society’s who-gets-what crises.
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Thank you for reading and aloha!
P.S. I cross-posted this article on Medium for greater reach.