Re: [xmca] Human footprint too big for nature

From: David Preiss (davidpreiss@uc.cl)
Date: Tue Oct 24 2006 - 12:24:26 PDT


Here there are some facts about the WWF report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6080074.stm

I might say that is pretty demoralizing for us, citizens of the
developing world, to share the world with you guys, citizens of the
developed world, but not to be able to have a real say about how its
resources are wasted. We all know that the UN play a decorative role
these days and that more can be done from the Oval office than from
New York's UN headquarters about it.

On the other hand, I guess that these graphs do not show within
country differences. As a part of the middle/upper classes of the
developing world, I might as well be an active polluter and not to be
well aware of it because there are no data. Last but not least, I am
sure that as my country runs to modernity we will join you very soon,
given the predatory nature of most of our national fabric (forestry,
fishing, mining).

The simple ting is: What can be really done? Change our consume
patterns? Yes. Protest? Yes. Educate? Yes. Will do anything of it do
something about it? Not sure. Can we force the powers that be
(corporate or political) to take appropriate action? Sign the Kyoto
protocol, at least?! Shift to clean energies? Put the commons over
the private interests?

On Oct 24, 2006, at 3:37 PM, Jay Lemke wrote:

>
> Gee, I thought this was going to be about the discovery of BigFoot!
>
> And in a way, I guess it is, with the too-big-for-our-shoes
> resource greed of the overdeveloped countries (led no doubt by my
> own) marching profitably toward disaster.
>
> I am comforted that I probably won't make it to 2050, miracles of
> modern (also resource profligate) medicine, notwithstanding. On the
> other hand, when I taught Environment Science at the university in
> New York for a few years in the 1970s, the extrapolations from then
> current data all indicated to me that the first signs of global eco-
> tastrophe would be showing up around 2020. Extrapolations are
> tricky in these matters because of all the feedback loops, which
> generally tend to make problems come sooner and be worse than
> expected. (If you are not prone to nightmares, or eco-anxiety, have
> a look at Holling & Gunderson, 2002, _Panarchy_, or http://
> www.resalliance.org/1.php under Thresholds. These people are among
> the leading ecosystem theorists and researchers in the world.)
>
> Do juggernauts ever have second thoughts?
>
> JAY.
>
>
> At 11:15 AM 10/24/2006, you wrote:
>
>
>> WWF’s 2006 Living Planet Report, the group’s biennial statement on
>> the state of the natural world, says that on current projections
>> humanity will be using two planets’ worth of natural resources by
>> 2050 — if those resources have not run out by then. It also confirms
>> the trend of biodiversity loss seen in previous Living Planet
>> reports.
>>
>> Read the full report here:
>>
>> http://www.panda.org/index.cfm?uNewsID=83520
>>
>> There is a ranking of countries' contribution to disaster there.
>> Guess whom are topping the list.
>>
>> David Preiss, Ph.D.
>> Profesor Auxiliar / Assistant Professor
>>
>> Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
>> Escuela de Psicología
>> Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
>> Macul, Santiago
>> Chile
>>
>> Fono: 3544605
>> Fax: 3544844
>> e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
>> web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
>> web institucional: http://www.uc.cl/psicologia
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
> Jay Lemke
> Professor
> University of Michigan
> School of Education
> 610 East University
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>
> Tel. 734-763-9276
> Email. JayLemke@UMich.edu
> Website. <http://www.umich.edu/~jaylemke%A0>www.umich.edu/~jaylemke
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
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>

David Preiss, Ph.D.
Profesor Auxiliar / Assistant Professor

Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Escuela de Psicología
Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
Macul, Santiago
Chile

Fono: 3544605
Fax: 3544844
e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
web institucional: http://www.uc.cl/psicologia

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