The origins of the global crisis and the problems of life support of mankind

This article determines the need to search for new strategies for the development of mankind, which is caused by the unsatisfactory results of the economic and social development of the society that developed at the turn of the millennium. These results are manifested in different countries and in different spheres of the society: sharp differences in the level and quality of life, the acute shortage of food, drinking water and electricity in many regions of the world, illiteracy and low life expectancy, the widening gap between developed countries and the poorest countries of the world in access to the benefits of civilization. It is indicated that these results negatively affect the condition of the natural environment as a whole. One of the main reasons for the current situation is the low efficiency of the means and materials used. Two ways of possible development of mankind are considered: sustainable development and the onset of a social and ecological catastrophe. It also underlines the contradiction between the unfolding of the globalization process and the complexity of the "ingrowing" of local (regional) societies into it. When searching for solutions to the problems of the further development of mankind it is pointed out that depletion of natural resources is accompanied by an increase in the efficiency of the use of raw materials per unit of finished products and that the principles of noospheric nature management make it possible to increase the period of sustainable nature management for an indefinitely long time. In this connection, life support issues are considered, which is recognized as a key concept of sustainable development programs, as well as the main theoretical and applied task of researching its geographic bases. The main link in the system of factors, the study of which is necessary for determining the patterns of reproduction and functioning of territorial communities of people, is called nature management in its understanding as borrowing from the surrounding nature all that is necessary for life.