Well said! But a couple of caveats. The UN's most likely scenarios for population growth now predict that the human population will peak in mid-century at less than ten billions - there are plenty of signs that growth is "slowing". Where women have the freedom to decide the size of their family, they tend to choose three or fewer children. Secondly, the so-called "sixth extinction" is largely a function of global communication rather than habitat destruction; we have created a new Pangaea. For the current rate of extinction to qualify as a true mass extinction it would have to be sustained for 500,000 years, which seems unlikely.
This century's real problem is how to give people in the South a decent standard of living, and ameliorate the farming-out of poverty which supports our affluent society. Global warming may be a distraction from this central task; asteroid deflection certainly is. We still don't know what caused Tunguska! Ed Kite. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 7:53 PM Subject: RE: Are Humans Gaia's Immune System Against Impacts? > An interesting pairing of articles: the metaphysical Gaia hypothesis along > with an article describing a need to employ scientific principles so one can > having understanding vs. a belief. > > The half-baked thought of "Perhaps she evolved technologically > sophisticated, big-brained mammals who can travel in space as a way of > protecting herself from asteroids." is more than a little ironic, since > evidence is mounting that the Chicxulub did indeed cause the dinosaur demise > that subsequently set the ecological stage for mammals to diversify and lead > to humans. > > Gaia is certainly a romantic idea, but the concept of a goddess directing > evolution is certainly in the realm of mysticism. Maybe the article > should've focused on how evolution may be forming a resilience to massive > disruptions... which would also be a weak hypothesis, but at least not > require a goddess weaving a web. 250 million years is a long time between > impacts, so it's an incredible stretch to think of life being able to evolve > traits to survive. > > Not to entirely bash the article. If one takes Gaia as a metaphor for the > "super-ecosystem" of earth, then certainly the evolution of intelligence can > bestow an awareness on a population; one that can completely evaluate causes > and their effects. To paraphrase Aldo Leopold, for a being to understand > and care about other animals is something new under the sun. > > The problem with humans is they just don't live long enough to fully > appreciate their own impacts... although with our population literally > exploding on the exponential path, we're starting to have massive effects > within one generation. I think it's estimated that there will be 8 billion > people on this planet in 30 more years, with no sign of slowing. > > If humans are supposed to be earth's immune system, the body is about to be > overwhelmed with doing nothing but cranking out white-blood cells at the > expense of every other tissue. A wise rancher tries to calculate a > carrying-capacity for his little plot of land, and manage the herd. What is > the earth's carrying capacity for people... and are we really wise enough to > manage it? > > Habitat destruction is increasing at such a pace already that biologists > consider the current rate of extinction as a mass-extinction event (from a > fossil record perspective). With population pressure only increasing, I > find it highly optimistic, and more than a little arrogant, to think that > humans evolved to be a "hero" organism while our hands are still weilding > the murder weapon. Maybe things will get better, and biodiversity will > stabilize... but saving the planet from a big rock that may hit 10,000 years > in the future won't be enough if we can't save it from ourselves now. > > Regards, > Tom Green == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
