"I am a passenger of spaceship Earth." - Buckminster Fuller
Fuller, the designer, systems theorist and futurist, wasn't the first to cite the concept of Spaceship Earth (American political economist Henry George referred to it in different terms in 1879.)
And for millennia native peoples have made this ecological ethic central to their spiritual beliefs and practices.
But Fuller's 1968 book, "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth," popularized the term and the thinking behind it for 20th Century audiences. Seems to be lost on 21st Century folks, however.
In short, the notion of Spaceship Earth holds that our planet is a more or less closed system with resources and natural processes that - if handled responsibly - will sustain humanity and other living things well beyond the near future. Humanity clearly has failed the planet miserably on this score.
Fuller's book makes specific reference to fossil fuels and the consequences of misuse - the degeneration and breakdown of Earth systems. The oil, gas,
coal and other extractive industries knew this for more than half a century. But in pursuit of profits, they kept this secret and threw millions into refuting claims to the contrary.
Believe Bucky.