![]() ![]() Unless we can ensure that the Economy is kept subservient to our Ecology, we will self-destruct.Īchieving such ecological dominance will be an uphill struggle, since many of the developed world's leading economists are population neutralists. When empowered by such an Economy, this greed will ultimately run counter to the inherent ecological constraints of the planet. The global economic recession which began in 2008 was driven by that very greed that Smith identified as having ‘no limit or certain boundary’. The desire for food is limited in every man by the narrow capacity of the human stomach but the desire for the conveniences and ornaments of building, dress, equipage and household furniture, seem to have no limit or certain boundary.Īdam Smith had foreseen the fatal flaw in the Economy-it is a human artefact that gives unlimited power to our Selfish Genes, with no negative feedback controls. In 1776, the pioneer Scottish economist, Adam Smith, issued a prophetic warning in his book The Wealth of Nations: ![]() This also coincided with another major change-the development of a Global Economy. Paul Crutzen, the Nobel Laureate, has recently proposed that in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the world could be said to have entered a new geological epoch which we should call the Anthropocene, since that was when human activities, spurred on by the Industrial Revolution, began to dominate all the ecosystems on earth ( Crutzen & Stoermer 2000). The world's population is now 6.8 billion, and we have achieved dominion over every living thing. In the intervening centuries, we have done just that. Hence it made sense to enjoin mankind to:īe fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. When the Book of Genesis was written 3000 years ago, there would only have been a few million people on earth. Thus, the developed world must curb its profligate use of non-renewable energy and the developing world its exponential population growth, if we are to arrest Global Warming in the years to come. But there remains a major credibility gap people have yet to draw the obvious conclusion that since Global Warming is the result of human activities, too many people will only exacerbate the problem. Al Gore (2006) chose his words wisely when he called it ‘An inconvenient truth’. Perhaps this is a lesson we must learn for the future International Organizations, Governments and Religious Leaders will be the last to appreciate the gravity of the current situation, and the last to implement effective measures to halt further population growth.Īs Global Warming makes its presence increasingly felt all around the world, more and more people are beginning to accept it as a reality. It is therefore surprising that when the United Nations announced its Eight Millennium Development Goals in 2000, halting population growth was not one of them it has since been added as an afterthought. Few can be left in any doubt that calling a halt to future population growth in both developed and developing countries is the greatest challenge now facing our world. World experts, in a wide range of disciplines, explore the ways in which the inexorable increase in human numbers is exhausting conventional energy supplies, accelerating environmental pollution and Global Warming, and providing an increasing number of Failed States where civil unrest prevails. The papers that follow in this issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society provide us with an intellectual feast, even though they will leave a bitter taste in the mouth afterwards.
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