next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
Tip: Your message to SUST-MAR must be html-free. So, BEFORE you hit SEND, please go to your "Format" pull-down menu and select "Plain text." In OE, select "Tools/Options/Send/"Plain Text"/Apply/Close." Thanks!
____________________________________________________________________________
.
Thanks to Angela Bischoff for this - a must-read.
*********************************
LOOKING DISASTER IN THE FACE
by Guy Dauncey
What do we do, when a huge global study tells us we are on course to
disaster?
The report is called the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and it is the most
comprehensive survey ever done into the state of our planet. It has been
completed by 1,300 scientists from 95 nations, and reviewed by 805 experts
and government officials, over a period of four years. It cost $20 million,
and it runs to 2,500 pages. This is serious stuff.
http://www.millenniumassessment.org
After studying ecosystems all over the world, on which all life depends,
their conclusion is that human activities threaten the Earth's ability to
sustain future generations.
Their report says that the way we obtain our resources has caused
irreversible changes that are degrading the natural processes that support
life on Earth.
They found that two-thirds of the ecosystems they studied have suffered
badly at the hands of humans over the past 50 years. Unless the
international community takes decisive action, they warn, the future will
look very bleak for the next generation.
"We are .. putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the
ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no
longer be taken for granted." (Dr. Walt Reid, lead author).
15 of the 24 ecosystems that are vital for life on Earth have been seriously
degraded or used unsustainably. The study finds that a rapidly growing world
population after World War 2 drove an unsustainable rush for natural
resources: timber, fish, food, cloth, minerals, fossil fuels.
To focus on just one area: more land was converted to agriculture since 1945
than in the whole of the 18th and 19th centuries. More than half of all the
synthetic nitrogen fertilizers ever used (since 1913) have been deployed
since 1985. The resulting run-off is causing algal blooms in rivers and
marine waters which are killing the fish and other marine creatures by
depriving them of oxygen.
Jonathan Lash, from the World Resources Institute, says "This report is
essentially an audit of nature's economy, and the audit shows we've driven
most of the accounts into the red."
So let us return to that first question: What do we do when a huge global
study such as this tells us we are on course to disaster? If we lived under
a monarchy, we would strive to get the report to the King's leading
courtiers, in the hope that he might read it, and give the order to change
course.
Living in a democracy is more complicated. Our leaders do not do what they
want: they do what they believe we want. If the public at large pays no
attention to the report, nor will they.
This points to the first necessary step: tell all your friends about the
report, even if it's a simple email that says "Please read this, and then
forward it on to all your friends: http://www.millenniumassessment.org
The second necessary step is to send it to every politician, to make sure
our elected leaders know about it. Here's the key question which each of
them needs to answer: "The authors of the huge new Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, produced by 1300 scientists from 95 countries over four years,
report that human activities are threatening the Earth's ability to sustain
future generations. What will you do, as an elected leader, to help us
change course, so that our children's and grandchildren's lives are no
longer threatened?"
It is not as if we do not know what to do. Enough books and papers have been
published describing the needed "mid-course correction" policies, actions
and initiatives to fell a good-sized forest all on their own.
The core of the problem is our own inertia. We are drifting towards disaster
while we enjoy the spring flowers and plan for our summer holidays - while
carrying on with business as usual in the office or the factory, seeking
more ways to sell more product, and earn more money.
This is a wake-up call, if ever there was. WE are the generation who carry
the ethical responsibility to protect future generations, and THIS is the
time when we need to place this front and centre on everyone's list of top
concerns.
Guy Dauncey
Editor, EcoNews
www.earthfuture.com
--------------
And here are some commentaries on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment...
.
. 2005/03/30: Dreams: Independent(UK): The State of the World? It is
on the Brink of Disaster: An Authoritative Study of the Biological
Relationships Vital to Maintaining Life has Found Disturbing Evidence of
Human-made Degradation
. <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0330-04.htm>
.
. 2005/03/30: UN: UN-backed ecological report warns of potential new
diseases and 'dead zones'
. <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13803>
.
. 2005/03/30: CBC: Two-thirds of Earth's ecosystems at risk: UN
.<http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/03/30/UNEnvironment0330.html>
.
. 2005/03/30: BBC: Deforestation, climate change, and pollution are
compromising economic and social progress in the world's poorest nations, a
major report has found
. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/science/nature/4391835.stm>
.
. 2005/03/30: Guardian(UK): Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'
. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,13369,1447920,00.html>
.
. 2005/03/28: Eureka: Scientists collaborate to assess health of
global environment
.<http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/su-sct032805.php>
.
____________________________________________________________________________
Did a friend forward this to you? Join sust-mar yourself!
Just send 'subscribe sust-mar' to mailto:majordomo@chebucto.ca
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects