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Human Ecology
At the beginning of this course, I offered that my stance on the human ecological situation was generally pessimistic. That stance has not changed, because I do not see how any thinking human could be optimistic about the present state of human ecology. However, I would like to note that pessimism is not the same thing as quietism -- this course has inspired me to change my thinking about certain subjects, and caused me to resolve to change my own behavior as well.
The one reading that most deeply affected me, and that did the most to confirm my overall pessimism, was Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. That is because Diamond's approach is to take the very long view of human civilization and cultural evolution -- and in the long-term, things do not look very good for societies that are capable of outstripping their resources. Diamond's basic insight is to suggest that the dominance of the western paradigm for civilization -- with its agrarian and militaristic aspects -- was able to spread so rapidly not due to "superiority" but due to certain basic facts of cultural evolution. What is most chastening about reading Diamond is to comprehend the rapidity with which the western paradigm spread -- and...
Diamond's view of the rise of European-style civilizations is based on the fact that it was material factors outside human control (such as geography and technology) that permitted the rapid spread -- and it certainly seems likely from the picture he paints that such material factors might very well prove to be the undoing of this model of existence.
At the same time it is worth acknowledging the point made by Greer in the conclusion to his article "Entropy Gets No Respect": "I sometimes suspect that one of the reasons so many people like to imagine an apocalyptic end to the industrial age is that sudden extinction is easier to contemplate than the experience of slowly waking up to the full extent of our own collective stupidity." In other words, the idea suggested by Diamond that the consequences of unsustainable modes of existence might include a society that is simply eradicated and replaced is likely to cause us to envision scenarios of sudden and…
This field is perhaps the most important development to environmental science in the past century precisely because now we have a much deeper understanding of how and why humanity influences the natural environment around us, deeply contributing to our awareness and knowledge of environmental damage and the harmful affects of pollution. Overall, it is evident that ecology has expanded at a tremendous pace because it has increased the scope
Omole-Ohonsi, (2007) in his study of sub-Saharan Africa confirmed these affects by suggesting that overpopulation of a locality not only damages the environment and sustainability but "feeds the cycle of poverty" (20). Thus, from non-renewable resources to social problems, the effects of overpopulation are large and far-reaching, encouraging a cycle of environmental destruction and poverty. Ways to Achieve Sustainability As previously mentioned, overpopulation is a difficult problem to solve because it deals
These restoration efforts affect natural wetlands that have been destroyed by mankind and then proposed to become urbanized. Conclusion Although the impact on the climate by humans has had several negative impacts, such impacts have the potential to be stopped and even reversed. Research clearly indicates that recent technological advances can be used in these cases as a valuable tool in determining whether natural processes can be restored, or whether other
This postmodern view of culture is applicable in the 20th century analyses and discussions introduced by Boyd and Richerson. In effect, the first assumption explicates how culture brings forth history, and in history, "qualitative different trajectories" occur: "...the dynamics of the system must be path dependent; isolated populations or societies must tend to diverge even when they start from the same initial condition and evolve in similar environments" (186). After
Green" Human Resource Practices And Environmental Performance A number of enterprises have historically adopted the approach of compliance within their environmental initiatives, and by consequence, rules and legislations guiding their environmental approaches. However, over the last many years, new consumer needs, consumer boycotts, global environmental standards, dynamic preferences, and other environmental factors have influenced core values and the fundamental business strategies of corporations (Daily, Bishop and Steiner, 2007). Organizations are
Colonial power was expressed in the dominance of people and dominance over ecology, a war that the colonists were determined to win. The native resistance was cast as 'savage' because the non-Christian natives wished to keep the land wild, rather than appropriately allow the more 'civilized' Europeans to dominate. Destroying native control and folk practices, taming the forest and artificially imposing Christianity, European crops, European notions of private property