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The average standard of living worldwide is close to the highest it has ever been in history, contradicting the assertion that the "carrying capacity of the pla
by Bostonian 2y ago
The average standard of living worldwide is close to the highest it has ever been in history, contradicting the assertion that the "carrying capacity of the planet is far exceeded".
- badpun 2y agoFrom wikipedia: > The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment. In other words, we’ve exceeded the carrying capacity of Earth because our current practices cannot be sustained over a longer timespan.
- defrost 2y agoOne doesn't neccesarily contradict the other at all. Some might argue that high consumption patterns along with high emissions and high resource demands all add up to a high debt which is exceeding planetary recovery boundaries. Some in fact do make that argument.
- MrVandemar 2y agoThe "standard of living" is not related in any way to the "carrying capacity of the planet". The former is a metric of how comfortable your life is; the latter is a complex metric of energy production and surplus, food per acre and inputs, etc. and how sustainable it is (which, at the moment, it isn't). But we're running at about 200 species extinctions per day. Every animal on the earth has detectable levels of PFAS. You have microplastics in your body and DDT in your adipose tissue. We all do. We're cooking the atmosphere and boiling the seas. But yeah, enjoy your standard of living.