Collapse

Evolution of the polycrisis: Anthropocene traps that challenge global sustainability

Published:13 November 2023 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0261

Abstract

The Anthropocene is characterized by accelerating change and global challenges of increasing complexity. Inspired by what some have called a polycrisis, we explore whether the human trajectory of increasing complexity and influence on the Earth system could become a form of trap for humanity. Based on an adaptation of the evolutionary traps concept to a global human context, we present results from a participatory mapping. We identify 14 traps and categorize them as either global, technology or structural traps. An assessment reveals that 12 traps (86%) could be in an advanced phase of trapping with high risk of hard-to-reverse lock-ins and growing risks of negative impacts on human well-being. Ten traps (71%) currently see growing trends in their indicators. Revealing the systemic nature of the polycrisis, we assess that Anthropocene traps often interact reinforcingly (45% of pairwise interactions), and rarely in a dampening fashion (3%). We end by discussing capacities that will be important for navigating these systemic challenges in pursuit of global sustainability. Doing so, we introduce evolvability as a unifying concept for such research between the sustainability and evolutionary sciences.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/20/giant-windfarm-norfolk-coast-halted-spiralling-costs-vatttenfall

Uh oh ! renewables keep getting cancelled over hikes in fossil fuel costs

Also https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-08/first-us-small-nuclear-project-canceled-after-costs-climb-53

Nuclear cancelled from costs increasing

https://nemets.substack.com/p/crisis-of-the-23rd-century

Civilization is old - at least 11,700 years old - and has risen and fallen at least six times. Each of those falls was an apocalypse in the biblical sense. Cities were destroyed or abandoned, productive lands were turned into deserts, cultural sophistication regressed to primitive artisanry, barbarian warlords overthrew law, and human populations fell dramatically. ...

It's a meme video about the inherent greed in humanity. Time for the show. The hallowed time of fear and disintegration. A countdown has begun. All will collapse on itself. The world will disappear into a single grain of blackness. All sound will be muted. All life will scream. It's "totally" also a coping mechanism, the doom and gloom of the collapse. After all, no one chose to be here. We exist without our consent.

A fashion industry push to reduce the environmental impact of the clothing it sells is being undermined by an ongoing addiction to buying new clothes, with the average Briton buying 28 items every year.

Asos and Primark are among the big names signed up to Wrap’s voluntary environmental pact, Textiles 2030.

While the companies involved have managed to reduce both the carbon intensity and volume of water per tonne used in their clothing manufacture, in its annual progress report, published today, the climate action NGO warns of hard-won gains being “cancelled out” because clothing production is “spiralling upwards”.