Re: [xmca] Human footprint too big for nature

From: Jay Lemke (jaylemke@umich.edu)
Date: Tue Oct 24 2006 - 11:37:41 PDT


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
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>xmca mailing list
>xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>

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
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 01 2006 - 01:00:15 PST