Beyond Extractivism: Humanity Entering the Post-Anthropocene

The effects of decades of human action have led to the crossing of multiple planetary boundaries, yet humanity's structures remain built on extractivist logics that further constitute the loss of biocultural capital.

The anthropogenic changes in Earth’s geo-ecological systems are unprecedented for anything any historical society had to face. While early human ecologies were characterized by local feedbacks and gradual natural change, the globalized world assimilates and synchronizes crises far more rapidly than both human and non-human adaptation measures can keep up with. Synchronizing implies no geographical escapes as formerly regional problems tend to become connected by globalization and telecoupling. Following this asymmetry, the gap between the resilience of socio-ecological systems and the ongoing escalation widens.

In contrast to any other epoch, the Anthropocene is marked by the dominance of a single species and a specific way of living within the diversity of lifestyles. The capacity of local ecosystems, and even of the entirety of planet Earth, is eroded. In geological understanding, humanity leaves traces of the systemic failures of the present.

In the current discussion about the Anthropocene, two core readings of the new era prevail. One claims that now that humans are dominating global processes, they have the right, and the responsibility to take full control and manage the Earth system, with technical means and based on existing patterns. Visions of post-human economic systems, run by new forms of AI solving all problems, belong to this category. The other core narrative is not based on rights but on responsibility, in particular to respect the planetary boundaries of the Earth system to give it time to recover (albeit in a modified way – some changes are irreversible).

We hold that moving “beyond extractivism” is at the core of the second, responsibility-driven Post-Anthropocene horizon and a necessary prerequisite for: a humanistic, not a post-human future, with resilient societies providing the chance for a dignified life to its members. However, the disturbances of global systems the Anthropocene-humanity has set in motion will have lasting effects, which cannot be stopped or reversed (almost impossible in complex evolving systems) on human timescales. Hence, there are no (technical or other) ways out of the crisis humans created – we must find pathways towards a humane Post-Anthropocene under the given and emerging conditions. This will require more than mere adaptation to external (e.g. climate) changes; it calls for a co-evolutionary process of human societies with their (no longer really natural) environment. Resilient societies in a resource-constrained future will need to decouple human flourishing from planetary degradation – a future beyond the Anthropocene patterns of production and consumption, and a modification of the value systems driving the permanent escalation of human impacts. Such a vision offers evidence-based hope for future generations, who necessarily must be part of the solution.

Aiming to link the geological dimension of the Anthropocene to future outlooks based on current and historical human nature, this concept can support the mobilization of communities by giving back agency, informed by state-of-the-art research.