Based on an extensive review of the essential and relevant scientific-technical literature on the genesis and implications of the current eco-social crisis, in this article we develop a transdisciplinary and synthetic description of the state of the matter regarding the sustainability crisis. To this end, after the introduction and a brief description of the institutional socio-political framework from which an attempt has been made to integrate economic growth with sustainability, we first examine the main costs, in terms of energy, ecosystems and climate, borne to date by the dominant paradigm of economic growth, to then review the main technological limits to the continuity of this dominant paradigm of continuous economic growth foreseen by science and technology. A review of the huge accumulation of scientific-technical evidence leads us, finally, to a conclusion on the incompatibility of the dominant socioeconomic paradigm, based on continuous growth, with all forms of ecological sustainability, and on the need for a profound and radical rethinking of this dominant socioeconomic paradigm as the most logical and best way, if not now the only one, to face the enormous challenges that as a civilization humanity faces.
