“Any reasonable interpretation of previous histories, current trends, and complex systems dynamics would hold that global MTI culture is beginning to unravel and that the one-off human population boom is destined to bust… wide-spread societal collapse cannot be averted… Global civilizational collapse will almost certainly be accompanied by a major human population ‘correction’”, Professor Bill Rees [READ MORE]
Unfolding injustices demand action for a #JustCollapse!
Just Collapse 
Yes, sadly, human extinction is now inevitable. Nevertheless, I would like to correct Professor Rees on one important point: our species’ extinction was NOT a biological inevitability. The overwhelming majority of human societies that have existed over the million+ years of our time on the planet have done so in balance with the rest of the Web of Life. It was only after the development of agriculture–which brought with it social hierarchies, the rise of cities, patriarchy, slavery, standing armies and war–that human extinction became inevitable. The institutionalization of formal agriculture was the turning point, and it occurred during the last 1% of our existence on the planet. Had we remained stateless, organized in small nomadic bands of hunter/gatherers, as we were for 99% of our time on Earth, we could have continued indefinitely, living not without blame, but in balance with the rest of life.
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Hi Nina, I listened to a recent podcast Professor Rees did on Planet Critical and he was challenged on this very point. His argument is that Homo sapiens, even as hunter gatherers, have changed every environment that they have inhabited and caused the extinction of animal species. It’s an interesting thought but I agree with you in that for 99% of human existence we were living in much greater balance with nature. As soon as humans were able to create a surplus everything changed.
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Yes, finding and developing fossil fuels has powered human overshoot to an extreme level – mainly by the affluent west. While all species hold capacity to overshoot their habitat, we appear to be one of the first to do it at the global scale… there was apparently an algae-driven global extinction event billions of years ago!
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Hi Nina…I listened to the Planet Critical podcast recently where Prof. Rees was interviewed and challenged on this exact point you make. His argument is that wherever humans have lived, throughout all of history, they have altered the ecology. He said even prior to agricultural civilisations, humans negatively impacted the environment and caused the extinction of some species. Whatever the facts, I agree with you in that for 99% of human existence we have lived in much greater harmony with nature and in a much more sustainable way.
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