What does Barry Commoner mean "we have broken out of the circle of life?"

Answer: He was referring to the production technologies i. e. the methods employed to extract, produce and utilize resources were man-made and far from naturally ideal.

Explanation: Barry Commoner was an American cellular biologist, professor and politician. He was a leading ecologist and among the founders of the modern environmental awareness movements.

The above excerpt is from his book, The Closing Circle published in 1971, where Commoner exposed the role of capitalism and profit as root causes of environmental degradation, at a time when majority of writers were blaming individual behaviour or overpopulation for pollution.