Predicament

The human animal is in big trouble. The biosphere and the atmosphere are in the early stages of collapse and it’s entirely possible that the planet may become uninhabitable in the near future. There’s a long story here and an important history, but for our purposes, it’s enough to say that our problem is one of ecological overshoot.

Humanity is in the process of exceeding the biological carrying capacity of the planet and the consequences are becoming excruciatingly obvious. Human impact–in both consumption and sheer numbers–is stressing every life system to the limit.

Extreme weather is rapidly becoming a new normal, biodiversity is in steep decline and the biomass of wild animals–in comparison to humans and human-supporting animals–is a fraction of its historical norm. Habitat destruction and deforestation continues almost unabated and the oceans are suffering from overheating, acidification, dead zones and over-fishing. According to a recent analysis by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth’s wildlife populations have fallen on average by 73 percent in the past half-century. Rebecca Shaw, WWF’s chief scientist described the report’s findings in the bluntest possible terms: “It really does indicate to us that the fabric of nature is unraveling.” In other words, our life-support systems are failing.

According to Planetary Boundaries Science, an international scientific partnership established in 2023 in affiliation with Planetary Guardians, we’re reaching or exceeding 6 of 9 of Earth’s planetary boundaries. The 2024 assessment shows that six of the nine planetary boundaries have already been breached: climate change, biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities. If the planet was a human body, this would be a true medical emergency.

Most of us are in denial about the scope, magnitude, and depth of the challenge before us, but even unconsciously, the gravity of our predicament seeps into our lives and our spirits. In particular, young people are in a state of distress and even dread about the future. Ecological distress, coupled with rising authoritarianism and social dysfunction, adds up to an unprecedented, escalating stress burden on the human animal. In turn, this compromises our humanity, our compassion, and our creativity. To put it another way, we’re in real danger of losing, not just a functioning atmosphere and biosphere, but our humanity itself.

It’s tempting to turn away and to lose ourselves in petty squabbles and amusements, but this is a time for big questions. What are humans for? What is the purpose of human life? What does it mean to be radically human? These are the questions that animate our inquiry.