The Population Explosion: Why We Should Care and What we Should do About It. (summary)

The Population Explosion: Why We Should Care and What we Should do About It
by Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne H. Ehrlich

This article talks about the worlds population explosion and its direct connection to the degredation of the environment as well as the rapid loss of biodiversity. It goes on to explain the model of population impact on life support systems "The number of people (P), multiplied by per capita affluence (A) or consumption, in turn multiplied by the technologies employed to service the consumption, in turn multiplied by an index of the environmental damage caused by the technologies employed to service the consumption (T), gives a measure of the environmental impact (I) of a society. This is the basic I=P x A x T identity often just called the I = PAT equation." This equation is important because It shows how each factor is dependent and a multiple of each other . Usually environmental aspect of the situation giving a very shallow perception of the entire issue.

From article 36 of
Sources: Enivronmental Studies by Thomas Easton

Our Stolen Future (summary)

Our Stolen Future
by: Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers

This article talks about chemical waste and pesticides that are now circulating through the earths natural cycles. There is much evidence that these contaminants are affecting the local wildlife in a variety of ways. Many believe that these same chemicals are causing serious long term affect within human tissue as well. Though the evidence is probable at best transferring the result from lab animals to a human situation there is alot of different factors to take into account the most obvious being that "mice are not little people" meaning that studies on another species may not accurately explain what may happen to a human being. On the contrary however espcially with other mammals tissues and organs are very similar so studies could be more accurate than previously believed. Dosage is also an issue because most lab experiments use the large dosage when intake would be marginal in real situations
Pediatritions especially have noted more and more abnormalities in children. As well more cancer amoung the human population

From Selection 32 of Sources: Environmental Studies by Thomas Easton

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (summary)

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

This Article explores the concept of sustainability of societies and how they fail or succeed from the changes around them both economic and environmental.

He provides examples of societies that grew into mighty empires which build massive temples and palaces and then disappear leaving only the scattered fractional populations and remanents, evidence of what used to be. Most of these collapses have suspected by paleontologists, historians and many others to be at "least partly triggered by ecological problems: people inadvertently destroying environmental resources on which their societies depend... unintended suicide-ecocide." Diamond goes on to explain that an event like this would usually be followed by a events of positive feedback that would further fuel the collapse. It is their cultural morals which decide wether they may survive or disappear.

From section 42 of Sources: Environmental Studies by Thomas Easton

The Sacred Balance with David Suzuki

The Sacred Balance with David Suzuki

"We are the water we drink, the air we breath, the soil that feeds us, the energy that keeps us going." Suzuki explains our relationship with the earth and how over time we lost the connection. When people began to believe that everything theirs for the taking. Before this culture had a bond with their lands that surpassed just practical reasons. They believed their land to be sacred, something to be cherished "Human beings make their mark on the land and over generations the land shapes them." (Suzuki) This video is effective how it explains the human as a protector a expansionist and a living creature whos great adaptation of learning catapulted us into a new state of dominance over all other species. We have become greedy and are beginning to loss our morals of old. But as crisis approaches people are looking into the future as well as what has already past. "Science & technology (is) one bank of the river and religion, tradition & faith (is) the other bank of the river. both the banks need to be firm and then only the river can maintain the flow."-Veer Bhadra Mishra (Hydrological Engineer) This quote sums up the title (the sacred balance) and the purpose of the video. And perhaps our only chance of solving moving on from this age old problem.