"Hail Malthus!" -- the last line of the satirical musical play, "Urinetown." Doesn't he realize that humans are already moving toward ZPG these days?
On 4/13/06, ravi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://platosbeard.wordpress.com/2006/04/13/the-spectre-of-malthus/ > > What nobody wants to hear, but everyone needs to know > Eric R. Pianka > > I have two grandchildren and I want them to inherit a stable Earth. > But I fear for them. Humans have overpopulated the Earth and in the > process have created an ideal nutritional substrate on which bacteria > and viruses (microbes) will grow and prosper. We are behaving like > bacteria growing on an agar plate, flourishing until natural limits are > reached or until another microbe colonizes and takes over, using them as > their resource. In addition to our extremely high population density, we > are social and mobile, exactly the conditions that favor growth and > spread of pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes. I believe it is only a > matter of time until microbes once again assert control over our > population, since we are unwilling to control it ourselves. This idea > has been espoused by ecologists for at least four decades and is nothing > new. People just don't want to hear it. > > Population crashes caused by disease have happened many times in the > past. In the 1330s bubonic plague killed one third of the people in > Europe's crowded cities. Smallpox and measles decimated Native Americans > when Europeans transported them to the new world. HIV is a relatively > new disease wreaking havoc in Africa and Asia. Another population crash > is inevitable, but the next one will probably be world-wide. > > People think unrealistically because they have lost touch with the > natural world. Many people today do not really know where and how our > food is produced, and on what our life support systems are based. As we > continue paving over natural habitats, many think that we can disrupt > and despoil the environment indefinitely. We have already taken half of > this planet's land surface. Per capita shares of all the things that > really matter (air, food, soil, and water) are continuously falling. Our > economic system is based on the principle of a chain letter: growth, > growth, and more growth. Such runaway growth only expands a bubble that > cannot be sustained in a finite world. We are running out of virtually > everything from oil, food and land to clean air and water. > > Some politicians, economists, and corporations want us to believe > that technology will come to our rescue. But we have a false sense of > security if we think that science can respond quickly enough to minimize > threats from emerging diseases. Microbes have such short lifecycles that > they can evolve exceedingly fast, much faster than we can respond to > them. Many bacteria have evolved resistance to most antibiotics, and > viruses are resistant to just about anything. Defense always lags behind > offense. So far, modern humans have just been lucky. A reactive approach > to problems isn't enough, we also need to be proactive and anticipate > problems before they become too severe to keep them from getting out of > control.Many people believe that Earth and all its resources exist > solely for human benefit and consumption, this is anthropocentrism. We > should allow the millions of other denizens of this Earth some space to > live — they evolved here just as we did and have a right to this planet, > too. > > I do not bear any ill will toward humanity. However, I am convinced > that the world WOULD clearly be much better off without so many of us. > Simply stopping the destruction of rainforests would help mediate some > current planetary ills, including the release of previously unknown > pathogens. The ancient Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times" > comes to mind — we are living in one of the most interesting times > humans have ever experienced. For example, consider the manifold effects > of global warming. We need to make a transition to a sustainable world. > If we don't, nature is going to do it for us in ways of her own > choosing. By definition, these ways will not be ours and they won't be > much fun. Think about that. > -- Jim Devine / "There can be no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity." -- Chester Bowles
