The environment, not to mention the whole of the natural world around us, is heading for hell in a hand basket. Or so it would seem.
According to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report, “human beings are using 30 per cent more resources than the Earth can replenish each year… which is leading to deforestation, degraded soils, polluted air and water and dramatic declines in numbers of fish and other species.”
As a result, “we are running up an ecological debt of $4 trillion every year – double the estimated losses made by the world’s financial institutions as a result of the credit crisis.” (This figure is based on a United Nations report which calculated the economic value of services provided by ecosystems destroyed annually.)
All one has to do is pick up a newspaper or turn on the television to see that the problem is getting worse by the day, as human populations and human consumption continues to grow at a faster rate than science and technology can find new ways of increasing the amount food and usable water we are able to produce.
And, if you think that sounds all too gloomy, just wait – you ain’t heard nothing yet.
In a recent statement, WWF International director general James Leape said that, “the recent downturn in the global economy is a stark reminder of the consequences of living beyond our means. However, the possibility of financial recession pales in comparison to the looming ecological credit crunch.”
Leape also stated, “We have only one planet. Its capacity to support a thriving diversity of species, humans included, is large but fundamentally limited. When human demand on this capacity exceeds what is available… we erode the health of the Earth’s living systems. Ultimately, this loss threatens human well-being.”
A significant part of the report is an index of the health of the world’s natural systems, produced by the Zoological Society of London, which is based on representation by some 5,000 populations of more than 1,600 species, and on the ecological footprint of human demands for goods and services.
The report also states, “global biodiversity has declined by nearly a third since 1970,” and terrestrial, freshwater and marine species, tropical forests, drylands and grasslands all showed significant declines.
Of the main geographic regions, only the zone around the Arctic sea and covering much of North America showed no overall change. Over the same period, the ecological footprint of the human population has nearly doubled.
When you look at all the natural beauty that surrounds us in the Shuswap, it’s hard to wrap your mind around all the problems faced by the whole of the planet.
One interesting comment in the report was that, “humans would need two planets to provide for their wants and needs by the 2030s.”
Now I am certainly no rocket scientist, but maybe we should be looking at ways to slow down the environmental devastation and general laying to waste of this planet before we go looking for some other planet to screw up. We have the technology and we certainly have the incentive. All we need is the will.
To me, it was almost a little bit eerie when the World Wildlife Fund released its 2012 Living Planet Report from space with Dutch physician and astronaut André Kuipers on the International Space Station, in collaboration with the European Space Agency.
Maybe they really are looking for some other planet out there to screw up.
