World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice

Ripple, William J.; Wolf, Christopher; Newsome, Thomas M.; Galetti, Mauro; Alamgir, Mohammed; Crist, Eileen; Mahmoud, Mahmoud I.; Laurance, William F.

doi:10.1093/biosci/bix125

Cited by 985 publications

(660 citation statements)

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“…The second approach culminated in the latest (second) warning by over fifteen thousand of the world's scientists, emphasizing the overwhelming evidence that current policies and trends around the world are unsustainable and will lead to disastrous consequences [7] It takes a broader perspective, examining extents and trends of ecosystem deterioration, loss of agricultural productivity, pollution levels, extraction of renewable and non-renewable resources and loss of biodiversity.…”

Section: Published: 7 May 2018mentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial Volume 14

Lautensach

2018

Journal of Human Security

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Section: Published: 7 May 2018mentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial Volume 14

Lautensach

2018

Journal of Human Security

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“…Natural resource scarcity alters global trade dynamics with local and global environmental and socio-economic repercussions [1,2]. Inequalities between and within countries and the rules of the global market are shaping a geography where rich investors acquire resources located in low-income countries or regions [3][4][5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of Land-Grabbing on the Ecological Balance of Brazil

et al. 2018

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Abstract:In the global free-market, natural resource scarcity and opportunities for preserving the local environment are fostering international purchasing of large extensions of land, mainly for agricultural use. These land transactions often involve land cover change (i.e., through deforestation) or a shift from extensive or traditional to intensive agricultural practices. In Brazil, the land appropriation by foreign investors (i.e., the so-called "land-grabbing") is affecting natural capital availability for local communities to a different extent in the very different territorial entities. At the same time, Brazilian investors are purchasing land in other countries. Ecological footprint accounting is one appropriate lens that can be employed to visualize the aggregated effect of natural capital appropriation and use. The aim of this paper is to provide a first estimate on the effect of land-grabbing on the ecological balance of Brazil through calculating the biocapacity embodied in purchased lands in the different states of Brazil. The results show that Brazil is losing between 9 to 9.3 million global hectares (on a gross basis, or a net total of 7.7 to 8.6 million of global hectares) of its biocapacity due to land-grabbing, when considering respectively a "cropland to cropland" (i.e., no land-cover change) and a "total deforestation" scenario. This represents a minimum estimate, highlighting the need for further land-grabbing data collection at the subnational scale. This analysis can be replicated for other countries of the world, adjusting their ecological balance by considering the biocapacity embodied in international transactions of land.

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“…46 Their prognosis was grim, and their proposalsintentionally or not-amounted to a wholesale repudiation of modern capitalism. Among their many useful recommendations was a call for "revising our economy to reduce wealth inequality and ensure that prices, taxation, and incentive systems take into account the real costs which consumption patterns impose on our environments."…”

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confidence: 99%

The Physics of Capitalism

Kolasi¹

2018

Mon. Rev.

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People tend to think of capitalism in economic terms. Karl Marx argued that capitalism is a political and economic system that transforms the productivity of human labor into large profits and returns for those who own the means of production.1 Its proponents contend that capitalism is an economic system that promotes free markets and individual liberty.2 And opponents and advocates alike most often measure capitalism's impact in terms of wealth and income, wages and prices, and supply and demand.However, human economies are complex biophysical systems that interact with the wider natural world, and none can be fully examined apart from their underlying material conditions. By exploring some fundamental concepts in physics, we can develop a better understanding of how all economic systems work, including the ways that the energyintensive activities of capitalism are changing humanity and the planet. This article will explain how the fundamental features of both our natural and economic existence depend on the principles of thermodynamics, which studies the relationships between quantities such as energy, work, and heat.3 A firm grasp of how capitalism works at a physical level can help us understand why our next economic system should be more ecological, prioritizing long-run stability and compatibility with the global ecosphere that sustains humanity.Such an understanding requires a glance at some central concepts in physics. These include energy, entropy, dissipation, and the various rules of nature that bind them together. The central features of our natural existence, as living organisms and as human beings, emerge from the collective interactions described by these core physical realities. Although these concepts can be difficult to define without reference to specific models and theories, their general features can be outlined and analyzed to reveal the powerful intersection between physics and economics.The exchange of energy between different systems has a decisive influence on the order, phase, and stability of physical matter. Energy can be defined as any conserved physical property that can produce motion, such as work or heat, when exchanged among different systems. 4 Kinetic energy and potential energy are two of the most important forms of energy storage. The sum of these two quantities is known as mechanical Erald Kolasi received his PhD in physics from George Mason University in 2016.archive.monthlyreview.org

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World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice

Cited by 985 publications

References 3 publications

Editorial Volume 14

Editorial Volume 14

Implications of Land-Grabbing on the Ecological Balance of Brazil

The Physics of Capitalism

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