The Human Ecology of Overshoot: Why a Major Population Correction Is Inevitable

Human beings have been naturally programmed for exponential growth, resource consumption, and territorial expansion. While nature historically provided negative feedback to limit this, advancements like the scientific revolution and fossil fuel usage have diminished these restraints, amplifying our growth. Modern neoliberal economics further promotes this growth. However, our unchecked growth means we are depleting and contaminating the very resources upon which we depend. Though climate change is a prominent sign of this unsustainable growth, current mainstream solutions might exacerbate the issue. Given our current trajectory, society is heading towards a major economic contraction and significant population reduction within this century.

“Without a biosphere in a good shape, there is no life on the planet. It’s very simple. That’s all you need to know. The economists will tell you we can decouple growth from material consumption, but that is total nonsense… If you don’t manage decline, then you succumb to it and you are gone” (Vaclav Smil).

It is a bigger problem that fertility rates are well below replacement level in most of the developed world.