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We have converted woodlands and prairies to farmland virtually
all over the globe. Our cities, suburbs and malls have paved
over natural communities, and pollution and overfishing are
rapidly destroying our rivers, lakes and oceans. As these
ecosystems go down, we are losing perhaps 30,000 species of
animals and plants a year, out of perhaps 10 million total
species, even though we still deeply rely on at least 40,000
species for food, shelter, clothing and fuel. We rely on natural
products to replenish genetic diversity in our crops and to
produce new medicines. We rely on pristine ecosystems to
replenish oxygen, regulate water cycles, control erosion, cycle
essential nutrients and restock critical fisheries. We still
need these things to sustain life - our life. The irony is that
our rampant success in living outside the world's ecosystems has
put them all, and thus ourselves, in jeopardy.
The tide is running back toward Malthus. We are emerging from a 10,000-year vacation from nature still not fully realizing that our own survival hinges on reducing the damage we do to Earth's natural systems. We may not drive ourselves to the complete oblivion of biological extinction, but I fear that the Malthusian specters of famine, warfare and disease will rise in the comparatively short run (the next few centuries), coupled with an accelerating loss of human cultural diversity and, ultimately, quality of life. Unless. We can, I think, find the inner will to wake up to our current situation, to see the grimmer outlook around the corner and to choose to do something about it. We can stabilize our numbers and temper our patterns of consumption. We can work to stem the tide of ecosystem destruction and species loss. We can, in short, see ourselves for what we have become: the first global economic entity, a fascinating state arrived at through no end of cleverness but a state that is ultimately limited by the health and productivity of the natural system in which we live. We can, if we choose to do so, prove Malthus' direst prognostications wrong. Niles Eldredge is a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History. His book "The Triumph of Evolution" is due out early next year |
Back to Question Page What Would a Green Future Look Like? What Will Happen to Alternative Medicine? Will Christopher Reeve Walk Again? Will There Be Any Wilderness Left? What New Things Are Going to Kill Me? Can We Make Garbage Disappear? What Will Be the Catch of the Day? |