From Edward O. Wilson’s The Future of Life, A Letter to Thoreau
“All are struggling to raise the quality of their lives any way they can. That unfortunately includes conversion of the surviving remnants of the natural environment… Species of plants and animals are disappearing a hundred or more times faster than before the coming of humanity…”
“The race is now on between the technoscientific forces that are destroying the living environment and those that can be harnessed to save it. We are inside a bottleneck of overpopulation and wasteful consumption… but there are encouraging signs that the race can be won.”
” In order to to pass through the bottleneck, a global land ethic is urgently needed. Not just any land ethic that might happen to enjoy agreeable sentiment, but one based on the best understanding of ourselves and the world around us that science and technology can provide. Surely the rest of life matters. Surely our stewardship is its only hope. We will be wise to listen carefully to the heart, then act with rational intention and all the tools we can gather and bring to bear.”
As Indigenous Native people, we have stressed this knowledge for over 500 years.
Good luck to you.
When global billion increment population growth is accelerating at the rate that it is, your only new ethic is population control. Cockroaches have adapted to the passing scene for eons. One needs to worry less about the “animals” than to the exponential growth of human spawn. Carry on.
Human population growth is slowing, and total human population is expected to peak sometime between 2050 and 2100, and start declining after that.
But feel free to sterilize yourself.
Population growth is accelerating in many emerging nations, while declining in what has been known as the “West”. So distribution of population growth and decrease around the world is more important of a consideration than the sheer over all numbers. Fewer people consuming more resources is as much an issue as more numbers, but subsisting only marginally.
Rule of thumb: as personal income rises, family sizes grow smaller. Though Russia seems to be an exception – declining economy and non-replaceable birth rates. Singapore is the best example with its very high standard of living, it too is not growing at replaceable rates.
Incremental global population growth is now measured in the billions, rather than the millions. That is a major shift everyone on the planet needs to consider for the future.
Even one billion Chinese having only one child per family still means adding almost half a billion more people just from this one country. Then there are the billion in India and the billion collectively in South East Asia and you have an amazing population concentration in only one part of the planet — and far from US shores so many in the “West” may not be recognizing what has already happened .
You’ve confused population with population growth. Population is increasing, population growth is decreasing.
Until it doesn’t.
“Until it doesn’t?” Yes, you should definitely sterilize yourself.
I wonder if Ghost can point us to the 500 years or written or oral Indigenous Native record for corroboration. How did they control population growth?
I hear crickets. I guess they controlled population in the Old Fashion Way: genital mutilation, purdah, celibacy; infanticide; disease, starvation and decimation by warring tribes.
Wilson is classic econutz elitism incarnate. First world self hatred blended with the subtle promotion of eugenics only really acceptable in academia. Rather than understanding technology can elevate all nations, people like Wilson believe the earth can only be saved be returning America to third world serfdom.
The irony of course is 6 billion other people on the planet are rapidly moving into First World consumption habits. Laying a guilt trip on our own remaining “Western” one billion (with or without hair shirts) is an exercise in futility.
Therefore, I suggest Wilson preach his First World consumption eternal fire, brimstone and damnation to them, rather than us but only if he can obtain sufficient carbon credits for his verbal pollution.
I sense a “baited” question Malthius…which is why I simply wish your people “Good Luck” in your dilema…but to answer your question, we did not “Control” anything except our own choices & actions…No bull, no hot-air, no ego.
Ghost…writer, Refreshing to see how well you honor your ancient traditions of ….no bull, no hot-air and no ego. Nor even attempts to control this discussion. Awesome, as my tribe says.
Technoscientific is what will save the planet. Ignorance is never your friend.
I thought everyone regressing to subsistence level existence was going to save this planet. Silly me.
The planet has survived massive meteor attacks, millenniums of climate change and eco-assult. The planet is not worried, why should you? If there has been no climate change over its long eons of existence, why are you now enjoying Yosemite Valley?
Chill out is the best response to “global warming”. Look what the Chinese are doing — opening new sea routes across the opening waters of the Arctic while we sit on our thumbs washing our hair shirts. Buy some land in Canada instead and start growing strawberries. Then sell them to the Chinese.
People now have flocked to Arizona and Florida for one reason only — it is warmer there. Millions of acres of worthless desert and swamp land got sold because hot real estate was all the sudden hot. Look for the opportunities global warming will provide and get ahead of the curve. Let Carrier carry you into your retirement years.
BTW, if you notice a sudden weight loss it is just the Chinese how are eating you for lunch. While you are deciding which hair shirt to put on today.
C’mon people, wake up to China heating; which will affect you far more today than global warming tomorrow.
Well Florida has the no state tax thing going for it as well. Definitely attractive… and they have not state debt and a economic surplus. Texas as well. I do like it warm as opposed to cold.
The truth about the Indian tribes is massive species decline anywhere the so called “native” peoples lived. Native Americans all came from somewhere… Land bridges from Asia etc. Go visit the LaBrea tar pits to see what’s left of the native species that lived here before the so called Indigenous peoples hunted them to extinction.
Comments – much ado about nothing – all anecdotal. Nothing scientific at all.
China and India are leading the way in fighting global warming. You would not think so after reading these comments.
Ouch, a wasted 10 minutes reading these.
This is the same China and India where essentially a peasant class “recycles” our toxic electronics, wearing a loincloth, standing over a torch, leeching lead and other heavy metals into the groundwater. What a lovely world our green warriors live in
Naw, that is Pakistan. China’s model wind farm and tourism showcase has no connections to any existing power grid.
Transportation remains the biggest energy sucker, and 3 billion new people in the South East Asia region now want cars. It is just not the backyard leaf blowers in Santa Barbara that are going to allegedly kill us.
Too bad because at one time what was good for General Motors was good for America. No longer. While we fret over human rights and boycott these emerging markets, Singapore slips through the back door cutting deals that get around every trade barrier the US inflicts upon ourselves.
Do re-consider a subsistence existence, but it won’t be because of eco-purity. It will be because US markets got skunked by the eco-libs.