Extinction

“Capitalism is predicated on endless expansion. It is a socio-economic system that must grow indefinitely or cease to exist. And it has to grow at a compound rate, leading it to commodify and consume ever-greater portions of the planet at an accelerating velocity. Since we only have one planet, there is clearly a fundamental contradiction between our economic system and the environment upon which it, and all of humanity, ultimately depends. But since capitalism grows in a spatially uneven manner, some people can live obscenely affluent, insulated lives while other people face stark ecological catastrophe. But at some point, capitalism will take the entire planet past a point of ecological destruction from which there will be no return, at least on any time scale that is meaningful for human beings. Current rates of extinction suggest that we are approaching that point.” Ashley Dawson, author of “Extinction: A Radical History” explains in this TruthOut interview. “In a country like Brazil, for instance, just 3 percent of the population owns two-thirds of all arable land. As a result, while poor farmers cut down the Amazon rainforest in a struggle to subsist, huge agribusiness corporations pay loggers to fell trees in order to grow crops and raise cattle for international markets. This situation is unjust socially, and unsustainable in environmental terms. Today's mass extinction crisis is one of the clearest indications we have of the fundamental irrationality and destructiveness of the capitalist system.”

For the full interview go here