Crise capitalista, mudanças climáticas e colapso ambiental: um estudo acerca da ultrapassagem dos limites planetários

Abstract

The central objective of this master's thesis was to understand the ongoing environmental collapse trends as an expression of the capitalist crisis triggered since the 1970s. It is considered that the continuous production of commodities, in an uncontrollable and destructive manner, is directly responsible for the destruction of nature and the current stage of surpassing planetary boundaries. These planetary boundaries represent critical limits of the planet, and when exceeded, they cause extreme and irreversible impacts on the environment and social relations. The study sought to synthesize some critical perspectives surrounding the debate on climate change and its connection to the marxist reference, based on a strong critique of the contradictions of the capitalist system. A complementary study was also conducted based on reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which provided elements that helped in the articulation between theory and empirical data. The analysis revealed that, since the industrial revolution, the ecological impacts of capitalist production and consumption patterns have intensified since the 1970s, particularly with the dependence on fossil fuels. As a result of the research, the combination of theoretical review and data systematization indicated that the ongoing surpassing of planetary boundaries is intrinsically linked to fossil fuel dependency to drive contemporary capitalist production.