What are the links between the climate crisis and the ecological crisis, i.e. the unfolding crises and human-induced acceleration of civilisation in the ongoing Anthropocene epoch?
The era of accelerated development of civilisation, significantly accelerating the scale of matter processing, production processes, the scale of environmental pollution, consumption of renewable and non-renewable natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, etc. is referred to as the Anthropocene epoch, the Great Acceleration and Ecological Catastrophe has been taking place primarily since the mid-20th century. The term Anthropocene has not yet been introduced into the history of the development of planet Earth by geologists, but this is likely to happen soon. In the Anthropocene epoch, humans are increasingly transforming the biosphere into the technosphere. However, the scale of consumption of non-renewable raw materials is steadily increasing. The stocks of biodiverse forest areas that absorb part of the CO2 emitted by humans are continuing to decline rapidly. The supply of clean drinking water is also declining in increasingly large areas inhabited by humans. On the other hand, the scale of waste separation and recycling is still negligible and does not even compensate for a significant part of the consumption of raw materials and hardly reduces the level of waste pollution. The scale of the ongoing green transformation of the economy, including the implementation of a pro-environmental and pro-climate transformation of the classic growth, brown, linear economy of excess to a sustainable, green, zero-emission growth and closed loop economy is still too small to significantly reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the level of environmental pollution, implement reforestation processes and counteract the accelerating process of global warming is too small. It is essential to integrate a key aspect of the circular economy into the green transformation of the economy, i.e. the concept of zero growth consisting of zeroing out economic growth. This zeroing of economic growth should be implemented in a multi-faceted and multi-year perspective. It is not about zeroing economic growth in the short term (a few months) or in the medium term (a few years), i.e. as a periodic slowdown in economic growth occurring cyclically, within business cycles of several years during economic crises. It is about permanently resetting the rate of economic growth with the recognition of this issue as a key factor in a circular economy. Consequently, the economics of economic growth should be changed into the economics of zero growth, i.e. according to the concept of zero growth already known for several decades but not applied. An important issue of the Anthropocene epoch is also the rapidly progressing and human-induced extinction process of many species of flora and fauna referred to as the great 6th extinction in the history of the development of life on the planet. Consequently, the scale of the loss of biodiversity of the planet's natural ecosystems is progressing rapidly. Paradoxically, the great extinction of millions of species of flora and fauna was caused by just one species of living organisms - homo sapiens. Paradoxically, homo sapiens, which is responsible for this, is widely acknowledged to be the most intelligent species of life forms found on planet Earth. On the other hand, it is assumed that 99 per cent of the species that have lived on Earth over the last 3.5 billion years are extinct or have evolved into other species. But it is extremely difficult to estimate both the number of species and the duration of their existence for those of many millions of years ago and in the context of the evolutionary process. However, an extremely paradoxical and sad all at once process taking place in the Anthropocene epoch is that the acknowledged most intelligent single species of life form on Earth, which is homo sapiens, due to its robbery, combustion economy and rapid development of civilisation based on unlimited greed and disrespect for the surrounding nature, is causing the degradation of both the climate and the biosphere of the planet. Therefore, what has recently been described as a climate crisis should be studied, described, etc. in connection with the ecological crisis determined by the rapidly progressing process of deforestation, degradation of the biosphere, pollution of the natural environment, extinction of many species of flora and fauna life forms and, as a consequence, a rapidly decreasing level of biodiversity of the natural ecosystems of the planet Earth. Thus, the main negative effects of the development of a predatory, combustion-based civilisation and the key attributes of the Anthropocene epoch include not only a climate crisis but also an ecological crisis. The human-induced crises can thus be collectively referred to as the climate-ecological crisis. These crises should be considered, studied, analysed, described, etc. together because there are many relationships between them, synergistic processes, analogous and mutually influencing. By analogy, the process of a future climate catastrophe, which may already occur at the end of this 21st century if man does not manage to bring about a complete green transformation of the economy by 2030, should also be studied, analysed, projected, described, etc., in conjunction with the loss of biodiversity, the degradation of the biosphere, the extinction of species, etc., and thus the ecological catastrophe of the planet. By combining these issues, it is therefore possible and necessary to study, analyse, forecast and describe the future climatic-ecological catastrophe of the planet. If this catastrophe occurs in an extremely negative scenario then the Anthropocene epoch will be over.
In view of the above, I address the following question to the esteemed community of scientists and researchers:
What are the links between the climate crisis and the ecological crisis, i.e. the developing crises and those caused by the acceleration of civilisation in the ongoing Anthropocene epoch?
What do you think about this?
What is your opinion on this subject?
Please respond,
I invite you all to discuss,
Thank you very much,
Warm regards,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Dear Darius it is a wider topic discussion matter though critical.
Thank you for your question with the runner up recount.
Period has evolved as such to another epoch. Environment and ecology cannot be separated due to the facing crisis, emerges into one entity of biodiversity, leads to economic crisis, demands sought for setting up strategy for economic development for economic growth and stability.
Regards,
Fatema Miah
Note extensive concerns about phrases such as 'climate crisis' and 'anthropocene' https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003219453-15/vulnerable-anthropocenes-kasia-mika-ilan-kelman Plenty of problems emerge when using these phrases and plenty of alternatives have been proposed.
In my opinion the climate crisis and ecological crisis are closely linked through complex feedback loops that impact both natural and human systems. The impacts of the climate crisis on ecological systems are extensive and include changes in temperature, precipitation, and the timing of seasonal events. These changes can alter the range, distribution, and abundance of species, disrupt ecosystems, and exacerbate existing ecological stressors such as habitat destruction and pollution. Conversely, the ecological crisis also has significant impacts on the climate system through deforestation, pollution, and over-exploitation of natural resources. Strategies to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis must account for the impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, and vice versa.
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