What on Earth Are We Doing?

The first three chapters of Psychology for Sustainability, 5th edition, comprise a section titled What on Earth Are We Doing, the goal of which is to familiarize readers with the current ecological crisis and its historical origins and to provide a vision for a sustainable future. This introductory chapter provides a general summary of anthropogenic threats to the biosphere resulting from industrialization. A discussion of exponential human population growth, cultural carrying capacity, biocapacity, and the ecological footprint is followed by description of overconsumption and overproduction of waste in four categories: energy, water, food, and material goods. Some specific concepts include fossil fuel emissions and high-level nuclear waste; disruption of the water cycle; loss of topsoil and other hazards of industrialized agriculture; food waste; planned obsolescence, single-use items, and problems of landfills and incinerators; plastics and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; and e-waste as an ecological and social justice issue. Further discussion addresses systemic disruptions in the Anthropocene, including climate change and biodiversity loss, with connections to global pandemics and their ecological implications. Scientific consensus on the significance and severity is communicated with quotes from the 2017 World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity and the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Sustainability is defined as comprising three pillars—environmental, social, and economic—and is elaborated on with a list of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The chapter concludes with encouraging examples of the “build back better” approach and the idea that with crisis comes opportunity.