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What does "carrying capacity" in this case mean? I've seen various numbers quoted on this and they all seem somewhat suspect to me. Humans improve the world for
by Mirioron 6y ago
What does "carrying capacity" in this case mean? I've seen various numbers quoted on this and they all seem somewhat suspect to me. Humans improve the world for ourselves through work. As time progresses we get better at it and solve various problems. It's not like us consuming resources actually makes the resources disappear from Earth. They're still there, but they simply need more work to be done to be made useful. We extract new resources because it's cheaper, but at some point that'll change. Hopefully that's so far in the future that it's a challenge that's easily met.
- underbluewaters 6y agoSome resources are by definition are not sustainable. Fossil fuels are the best example, since they represent compressed biomass that takes millions of years to produce. The most worrying resource that isn't usually thought of are ecosystem services. The ocean produces an abundance of wild caught food, but also various cycles provide oxygen, consume co2, and coral reefs buffer shorelines against erosion. We degrade those systems with abandon, but they represent trillions in services that likely can't just be replaced with technology.
- Mirioron 6y ago>but they represent trillions in services that likely can't just be replaced with technology. Why not? We probably have a lot of time before they become seriously unavailable. The Earth is huge. Imagine if all oxygen production on Earth stopped tomorrow. We would still have enough oxygen in the atmosphere that would last 1000 years at current consumption (obviously you couldn't live for a 1000 years though). Humanity has progressed immensely in the last 200 years. I can't imagine where we will be in 500.