Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T03:54:40.180Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - When the Earth Became Man’s Private Property

from Part III - Climate Change and Global Warming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2022

Get access

Summary

Description: Humans had shared the Earth with other species but, increasingly, they have been shaping the natural environment for their exclusive benefit. In the process, they have been creating social costs that are not reflected in the prices of the market’s goods and services. This has happened especially in the use of fossil fuels to produce energy, but also in other products, such as beef and plastic. Humans have entered what has been called the “Anthropocentric Era,” an era in which they have come to see the Earth as their private property. Like most private property, it can be “used and abused” by the owners for their exclusive welfare. The number of human beings has increased enormously over the last century and is expected to continue to increase by several more billions this century. Humans have been using natural resources to sustain them and to improve their standard of living. <break>Some attempts to reduce their negative impact on the natural world have been under way for some decades (use of “green energy” etc.). So far, these attempts have been far from what is needed to prevent the world from becoming biologically poorer and from making the climate dangerously warmer. <break>Market fundamentalism has paid little or no attention to these problems and much attention to improving production and incomes. There is a clear need to change, dramatically, our theoretical economic thinking and our policies. And the sooner, the better. But the changes needed are very difficult.

Type
Chapter
Information
Fragile Futures
The Uncertain Economics of Disasters, Pandemics, and Climate Change
, pp. 133 - 140
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×