Quote Originally Posted by cygnus View Post

our species has a long history of causing species extinctions and degrading the environment in some way, but the ways in which we now relate to our world are vastly different from how they were only a couple centuries ago.

so when you combine a utilitarian, materialistic worldview with capitalism, technology and population growth, you have something that degrades not only the environment but the human experience at a very fundamental level.
What wonderful nonsense. Earth has experienced 5 mass extinctions effectively eliminating 97% of the species...how many of those were actually caused by humans? In fact how many of those even had mammals in them? The dodo bird dies and suddenly the human race is the cause of extinction? Really?

Concerning the fact that you don't find meaning in life due to your motif of drowning materialism does not a fortiori mean that others don't find meaning and have insightful, moving life experiences. In fact, I argue that such experiences are encouraged, easily realized, or are only existent because of the interests of capital intense labor. There are those who find meaning in labor but it is my belief that many find joy in libation. Libation is not possible under feudalism nor under primitive economies.