On some level, the gorilla in the china shop breaking everything is our culture, economy, even identity (in the US anyway) all being based on consumerism.

That's the key right there - consumption. All the problems in the world can be traced back to that. It's what we do as living creatures - consume and reproduce. As humans we got too proficient at it.

We went beyond 'consuming to keep ourselves alive' to 'consumption as a status symbol' - the best car - the best house - the best holiday at the best hotel. It became a consumption competition - a feeding frenzy.

With chickens i noticed a kind of thoughtless greediness. Give them a patch of grass and some time - they will eat that down to bare earth. They're not thinking 'maybe we should conserve some of that for later'. The impulse to consume is overpowering - even when it will result in their own doom.

Luckily for the chickens i am around to ration out supplementary food, but i don't know who's around to rein in human consumption.