Modern industrial civilisation has created massive
interdependencies which define it and without which it could not function. We all
depend on industrial farming to produce the food we eat, we depend on gasoline
being available at the gas station, on the
availability of electricity and even on the bread supplied by the local baker. Naturally,
we tend to support the institutions that supply the amenities and goods to
which we have become accustomed: if we get our food from the local supermarket,
it is likely that we would be opposed to it’s closure. This means that the economic
system that relies on continuous growth enjoys implicit societal support and that
nothing short of environmental disaster or a shortage of essential raw
materials will impede it’s growing indefinitely. It is not hard to work out the
consequences of this situation!