Ecological transition|growth of the world population is not the main threat to the planet

Abstract

The production of goods and services of the thermo-industrial society causes damage to the  living  and  inanimate  natural  environment.  Certain  currents  of  Political  Ecology, particularly in rich countries, identify the increase in the world population as one of the centralfactors of the ecological degradation of the planet. This article states that this is not  the  most  relevant  cause.  Damage  to  the  natural  environment  results  from  several variables such as the quantity of goods and services produced and consumed, the number of people inserted in the thermo-industrial society, the technologies employed and, above all,  the  geographical  character  of  the  damage  (local,  regional  or  global)  and  its  size  or magnitude reversible, recoverable and restorable, or irreversible, irreparable, irrecoverable damage). Roughly speaking, half of the world population is not integrated into  the  system  of  production  and  consumption  of  goods  and  services  of  the  thermo-industrial  society.  For  this  reason,  its  contribution  to  the  ecological  degradation  of  the planet  is  insignificant.  They  emit  less  greenhouse  effects  (GHE),  consume  less  raw materials  and  energy.  In  addition  to  this  aspect,  the  degradation,  from  a  geographical point of view, is mostly local and regional. While from the perspective ofthe dimension or magnitude,  they  are  reversible  and  repairable  damages,  contrary  to  the  global  and irreversible degradations caused by the richest 10% of the world population.