We often read or hear about the problems of the environment. It is useful to point out that generally speaking this is an error in syntax. The environment has no problems. It is us humans that have the problems. If a glacier melts and the level of the sea rises this is not a problem of the glacier or of the sea, it a problem of the humans that may need to relocate. This is not a grammatical error; it is a subconscious tendency to shake off our guilt.
Any reference to environmental problems brings to mind air pollution, deforestation, soil degradation, water scarcity, loss of biodiversity, plastic pollution, ocean acidification and of course climate change. To these we should add scarcity of land for production of food. All these problems can be seen as results of transgression of the limits imposed by nature.
How is it possible, one may ask, for humans to observe galaxies thousands of light years away from the Earth and not see the limits in the resources of the Earth? To this question several answers can be given.
•  Until very recently many people did not know what an environmental problem is. Most people know now because of the publicity given to the change of climate.
•  Many people know but they do not care enough to participate in political movements or pressure groups involved in protecting environment.
•  Many people, perhaps most, know and understand the importance of environmental problems but they discount the future by a 100% discount rate and continue to enjoy life without any remorse for the consequences of their action, e.g. many children per couple, overconsumption and wasteful living.
•  After the 2nd World War a culture has been developing that encourages breaking the limits in many parts and norms of social life including economics, politics, arts, ethics, education etc. That led to rising demand, directly and indirectly, for economic growth. Huge flows of migration to Australia, Canada, USA and to some European countries (mainly Germany) helped all countries grow. Thus, production and consumption became the prime objective of economic and related policies. China and the Soviet Union had no choice but to compete with each other and with the developed countries in economic as well as in military power. Per capita GDP and its growth became the dominant statistic around the entire world. Thus, the perceived need for production and consumption prevented peoples and governments from seeing the limits of the Earth’s resources. Consumerism has conquered human society.
•  Wealthy people, politicians, businessmen, and the military, i.e. the ruling class, seem to believe that the dreadful consequences of the environmental disasters would not affect them. Only the weak and the poor will suffer but who cares.
Of course, the academic community, at least part of it, saw the dangers of approaching and surpassing the limits. Ehrlich (1968), Ehrlich and Holdren (1971), Boulding (1964, 1966), Daly (1968, 1972), Georgescu-Roegen (1971, 1975) and Meadows et al. (1974) in the sixties and early seventies sounded the alarm. However, capitalists in their attempt to maximize profits and grow willingly ignored the warnings while governments had neither the strength nor the desire to impose limits and rules in the use of resources.
Thus, we have reached the point where the ecological footprint is currently 2.75 global hectares per capita while biocapacity is only 1.63 global hectares per capita. In other words, we are using the resources of the Earth 70% faster than they can be replenished. That means we are overproducing and overconsuming.  Read more
