Reset

In BRT, yours truly rants copiously about how the world needs a reset if we are to avoid environmental collapse. The reset not only deals with energy but also with the body politic as still conceptualizing the notion of nation states driven by capitalism as a viable way to run this planet no longer applies. For years, the question of how many other civilizations survive the trashing of their planets at the level we do comes to mind as all societies, IMHO, living on rocky planets, must use resources in order to survive, much less advance, as humans have on planet earth. The question to ask is now is ... what's the percentage of said civilizations surviving before it's too late and, can we change how we do business on earth before it's too late?

Our Earth has existed for 45 million centuries; and humans for a few thousand. But this century is the first when our species is so numerous—and so demanding of energy and natural resources—that we risk collectively despoiling our planet. It’s surely an ethical imperative that we should not deny future generations the wonders and beauty of the natural world. Policy must, in the words of the Brundtland Commission, “meet the needs of the present—especially the world’s poor—without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This requires a massive transformation in our lives—how we derive our energy, and how we feed ourselves. It’s an inspiring challenge for the younger generation, and an investment crucial for the future of humanity—and indeed all life on Earth. But it requires a massive realignment of priorities in all nations—a change in individual attitudes, as well as in public policy.

Decades of worldwide publicity have not saved planet Earth from approaching the threshold of irreversible climate catastrophe. Denying the urgency of climate change action could prove to be the ultimate global “tragedy of the commons”—a term introduced in Hardin’s classic book analysing how, for instance, “free” common land can be eroded by irresponsible overgrazing.3 Economists now argue the global economy must be restructured over the next 30 years to create a zero-carbon emission society, the necessary (but not sufficient) condition for climate stability.

Industrial pollution is one of the consequences of operators 

ignoring their effect on the shared environment

Click Tragedy of the Commons to get Hardin's  essay.