We often frame climate change in terms of emissions alone. But what if that’s too narrow?
Over the last 400 years, human civilization has entered an era of exponential acceleration—technologically, economically, and infrastructurally. Emissions are one output, but they’re just one layer of a much deeper phenomenon: the runaway scaling of civilization itself.
The real question is not only how much we emit—but how fast we’re expanding. Can the Earth system keep up with this pace? What are the climate consequences of unchecked civilizational acceleration? And what are the physical, ecological, and systemic limits to progress?
This invites us to rethink climate change—not just as a carbon problem, but as a structural response to a mode of growth deeply tied to capitalism. To communicate climate truthfully, we must begin scaling it to what it truly reflects: the velocity of human civilization.