McKibben's Podcast and Bioregional Quiz

            Bill McKibben’s Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet discusses how the Earth has been altered in the course of history. It also addresses the fact that the planet can no longer support the demands of the rapidly expanding population, and the need for a solution. McKibben notes, “Relentless growth is fundamentally altering the environment and our ability to live in it, and that maintenance of wealth and resources instead of expansion must be society’s new driver.” By focusing on only growth, the nation is continuing to deplete the planet of valuable resources, which is doing nothing but harming both the population and the planet more.

 Over the years, there have been copious amounts of changes in the Earth. The seasons progress differently, the annual amount of rainfall has changed, and meteorological tropics have expanded two degrees both north and south. Additionally, the amount of food per capita has gotten smaller, along with grain per capita, and the catch of fish is dwindling.

Despite the obviously drastic changes in the planet, the majority of the Earth’s population is refusing to find more environmentally friendly methods of doing things. In America, this is primarily due to problems with the economy.  Citizens are concerned that any true effort to create a sustainable plan will cause the nation to plunge further into debt.  In contrast, the places that are trying to find solutions have not been very successful. The Chinese have recently proposed that by the year 2020, there will be a forty percent reduction in the country’s GDP, and everything produced will use approximately forty percent less energy. Although this is a step in the right direction, this method will produce more carbon dioxide.

Perhaps this lack of interest in finding sustainable methods of living comes from the astounding scarcity of bioregional knowledge. Citizens do not know much about the different regions, and therefore are unable to comprehend the negative effects that have been made on the planet. If this does not change, then there can be no progress made. The world should take McKibben’s advice and “Change the price of energy to reflect the damage it does to the environment,” therefore creating a better sense of the repercussions of mankind’s actions.

McKibben also suggested that the best option for the human race is to rely on “low-input agriculture,” therefore providing the population with jobs, security, stability and food. Currently, there are twice as many prisoners than there are farmers in America. With such a statistic, providing local foods and cutting down on importing becomes extremely difficult, which means slowing down the use of fossil fuels becomes difficult.

 The world needs to focus less on individual wealth, and more on the world as a whole. The world will make considerably more progress if a “plough horse” method is upheld, and individual wealth becomes overshadowed by general well being. 

Environmental Issue Causing a Need for an "Island Civilization."

            Water pollution is one of the major environmental issues that have created a need for an “island civilization.” Although this problem exists throughout the majority of the planet, it is prevalent primarily within underdeveloped and developing countries such as Nigeria. In America and other developed countries, the water is virtually vacant of waterborne diseases (NRDC 1). However, within the aforementioned developing and underdeveloped countries, approximately five million people – six thousand of whom are children – die every day due to the condition of the water (1).

In Nigeria, one in every three people lack access to clean water (PSI 15). This means that people of all ages, including children, are subject to the copious bacteria inhabiting the filthy water. In fact, diarrhea caused from one of the bacteria is the second most frequent cause of death in children below the age of five (15).

            It is not just the health of the human population that is affected by poor water quality. When the water is not properly sanitized, it affects waterways, wildlife, and global warming as well (NRDC 2). Additionally, according to researchers at the Natural Resources Defense Council, the deficit of safe drinking water creates a rise in “population problems,” which are “Drying up water supplies and instigating conflict over scarce resources” (2).

            Water is a part of everyone’s daily lives. Water is used for cooking, bathing, swimming, and drinking. Since water directly affects so many aspects of life, it is obvious why the need for clean water is so crucial. When the water is contaminated, it can cause illness and, quite frequently, death. This creates a loss of billions of dollars every year. In fact, the United Nations made an estimate that the world would save over seven billion dollars in health care expenses if the amount of people without sanitized drinking water was reduced by half (NRDC 4).

With the need for safe water being so drastically unfilled, Fredrick Nash’s proposal of an “Island civilization,” which was an attempt to provide a solution to all of the world’s environmental issues, seems to be more reasonable. There are many issues that need to be addressed, and seem to only be getting ignored. If these problems, especially water pollution, continue to be neglected, the ending results may be, and likely will be, absolutely horrendous.

Citations:

Bringing Safe Water to the World. Natural Resource Defense Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Aug

            2012. <http://www.nrdc.org/international/safewater.asp>.
Nigeria. PSI Healthy lives. Measurable results.. Population Services International, n.d. Web.

            21 Aug 2012. <http://www.psi.org/nigeria>. 


(I'm not sure why, but I can't get the urls to stay on the same line as the date.)

Island Civilization Summary and Response

            Island Civilization: a vision for human occupancy of Earth, written by Roderick Frazier Nash, is an essay designed to prompt awareness of the “History and future of wilderness and civilization on planet Earth” (Nash 371). The essay discusses the development of the human attitude and treatment of nature throughout the past millennia. During the first and the majority of the second millennium, wilderness was viewed by the human race as something in need of dominance – “For thousands of years the success of civilizations seemed to mandate the destruction of wild places, wild animals, and wild peoples” (373). English settlers utilized items such as barbed wire, axes, and rifles to overpower and eliminate the Indians residing in the untamed land. This quest for dominance has been further strengthened by the use of dams and freeways, and has left the wilderness in what Nash refers to as “scattered remnants” (373).

            Towards the end of the second millennium, the idea that “Wildness held the key to the preservation of the world –” suggested by Henry David Thoreau – became more prevalent (373). However, it was not until the last fifty years of the millennium that its intrinsic value was fully recognized and the preservation of Earth became a priority for more than simply the benefit of humankind.

            Nash then discusses what he foresees as potential outcomes for the environment. The first of the proposed scenarios is described as a desolate wasteland only capable of supporting a “Pathetic remnant of its once-miraculous biodiversity and civilization” (376). Nash then discusses the possibility of both a civilization in which biodiversity is essentially destroyed and one in which mankind reverts back to primitive instincts of hunting and gathering. The final scenario Nash discusses is his proposal of an “Island Civilization,” in which the integration of civilization into nature would come to an end, and the population would be limited to a mere one and half billion inhabitants living in small, isolated, and self-sufficient “cities.”          

            I have mixed emotions in regards to Nash’s proposal. While I do believe the basis for his “Island Civilization” is sound and much needed, I do not feel that his ideas are practical. Mankind has, without a doubt, misused the Earth and its available resources; and there is a definite need to develop a plan to attempt to slow and perhaps reverse the parasitic effects the human race has had on the planet. However, Nash’s suggestion of limiting the Earth’s population to a confined area is both controversial and impractical. It is highly unlikely that the majority of the Earth’s population would willingly agree to sacrifice the many luxuries to which they are so accustomed to live in the “cities,” and even more unlikely that they would adhere to the idea of releasing their children into the wild to obtain the hunting and gathering skills of their ancestors. In fact, I believe that any attempt made by the government to enforce such policies would result in riot.

            I feel that the most practical and effective way to improve the state of the Earth is by continuing to develop technology. If scientists are successful in finding and enhancing alternative renewable sources for the planet’s energy needs, the condition of the Earth will improve dramatically. I also believe that a stronger enforcement of recycling policies would help a considerable amount. My final proposal to slow the negative effects of the human race would be to develop a way to efficiently slow and stabilize population growth. By doing so, food shortages, resource deficiency, and nearly every other issue would be confronted.