ecology intro
TRANSCRIPT
THE LAST SECOND OF THE LAST MINUTE
THE WORD ECOLOGY COMES FROM THE GREEK WORD MEANING ‘HOME’
AND THE STORY BEGINS LIKE THIS:
14 BILLION YEARS AGO SINGULARITY EXPLODED AND SENT ALL THE BUILDING BLOCKS NEEDED FOR ALL THINGS WHIRLING OUT INTO SPACE
(THAT’S A 4.6 WITH NINE ZEROS –
LIKE THIS 4.6 000 000 000)
THE WHIRLING GASSES AND SPACE DEBRIS LEFT OVER FROM A GIANT SUPER-NOVA COOLED AND CRUSTED OVER TO FORM A BEAUTIFUL BLUE ORB IN THE VAST LONELY EMPTINESS OF SPACE.
THE BIOSPHERE IS THE LAYER THAT CONTAINS ALL LIFE ON EARTH.
THIS VERY THIN LAYER WHERE WE FIND ALL LIFE WEIGHS A MERE BILLIONTH OF THE PLANET’S TOTAL MASS
PICTURE THIS:
IF WE SHRINK THE WHOLE 4.6 BILLIONS YEARS OF EARTH’S HISTORY INTO THIRTY DAYS…
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THESE ORGANISMS BREATHED IN SULPHUR AND GAVE OFF OXYGEN – HELPING TO CREATE THE CONDITIONS REQUIRED
FOR LIFE.
HOMO-SAPIENS – THE FIRST MODERN HUMANS ONLY EMERGED IN THE LAST MINUTE OF THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH ON OUR CONDENSED TIME-LINE
BUT FOR MOST OF THAT LAST MINUTE WE WERE HUNTER-GATHERERS
SEVEN SECONDS TO THE END OF THE LAST MINUTE SAW THE FIRST EMERGENCE OF AGRICULTURE AS PEOPLE MOVED AWAY FROM BEING HUNTER-GATHERERS TO BEING FARMERS.
MOSTLY THESE NEW FARMERS LIVED IN HARMONY WITH THE PLANET: TILLING THE SOIL, KEEPING AND BREEDING
ANIMALS IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.
GRADUALLY SOME BEGAN TRADING. TRADING POSTS SLOWLY BECAME MARKETS AND MARKETS BECAME SMALL TOWNS.
WITH THE GROWTH OF THE FIRST URBAN SETTLEMENTS CAME AN INCREASING DEMAND FOR FOOD – THIS SLOWLY PLACED MORE PRESSURE ON FARMERS AND NATURE SLOWLY BECAME MORE AND MORE MIS-USED:
THE ANCIENT GREEKS ARE WELL KNOWN FOR THEIR WISDOM AND GREAT LEARNING. BUT THEY ALSO ALLOWED
MOST OF THEIR TOPSOIL TO WASH AWAY.
IN ROME – THE FIRST CITY TO REACH 1 MILLION INHABITANTS, THEY CHUCKED ALL OF THEIR WASTE (INCLUDING CORPSES) OVER THE WALLS ENCIRCLING THE CITY. YOU COULD SMELL ROME FROM A GOOD FEW MANY KILOMETRES AWAY.
THIS WAS REALLY ONE OF THE WORST BITS OF NEWS FOR OUR PLANET
And he gave man dominion over the plants and the animals…
NATURE HAS BEEN ON THE RECEIVING END OF THIS ATTITUDE EVER SINCE
THE ONLY CHRISTIAN WHO EVER OPPOSED THIS VIEWPOINT WAS GOOD OLD ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI WHO LOVED ANIMALS AND LOVED NATURE. HE IS QUITE RIGHTLY NAMED AS THE PATRON SAINT OF ECOLOGY.
WONDER IF THAT WOULD WORK TODAY?
GRADUALLY MORE AND MORE RESOURCES WERE CONSUMED IN EUROPE ESPECIALLY (THE REST OF THE WORLD WAS STILL LIVING IN RELATIVE HARMONY WITH THE PLANET)
BEFORE THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, WEALTH PER PERSON IN INDIA, CHINA, AFRICA AND THE AMERICAS WAS HIGHER THAN MOST PARTS OF EUROPE
IN MANY PART OF AFRICA, THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES HAD NO WORDS FOR ‘STARVATION’ AND ‘WANT’ AND ‘MURDER’.
AT ROUGHLY THE SAME TIME THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION KICKED OFF
THEY EVEN STOLE MANY PEOPLE TO USE AS UNPAID ‘RESOURCES’ OR SLAVES
EVEN INSIDE EUROPE, PEOPLE TO A BACKSEAT TO PROFIT. IN MANY PARTS OF IRELAND IN THE LATE 1840’S THE POTATO CROP FAILED AND TWO MILLION PEOPLE DIED. THE BRITISH, WHO ‘RAN’ IRELAND, STILL EXPORTED 17 MILLION TONS OF FOOD IN THIS TIME.
NED LUDD AND CAPTAIN SWING WERE SOME OF THE EARLIEST ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS – THEY DAMAGED FACTORIES BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT THESE WERE MAKING PEOPLE INTO MACHINES AND LIFE LIKE A CONVEYOR BELT.
MACHINES DON’T MAKE LIFE EASIER – THEY JUST TAKE US FURTHER AND FURTHER FROM NATURE.
AT THIS MOMENT, PEOPLE BEGAN THE SWITCH FROM USING RENEWABLE RESOURCES TO USING NON-RENEWABLES
AND WE’VE SLOWLY BEEN IMPOVERISHING OURSELVES EVER SINCE
WE BEGAN TO STRIP THE EARTH OF ITS RICHES
WE BROKE OUR LINKS WITH THE SOIL AND WITH NATURAL PROCESSES
POPULATIONS EXPLODED AS FOSSIL-FUEL POWERED TECHNOLOGY ‘CONQUERED’ NATURE
THE ANNIHILATION OF THE BUFFALOS (AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS)
BUFFALO BILL KILLED 4280 HEAD OF BUFFALO IN JUST ONE YEAR. HE SHOT MANY OF THEM FROM A TRAIN WINDOW FOR FUN. HE DID THE SAME WITH THE INDIANS.
BUT WE GOT ALL THE GOOD THINGS:
EQUALITYDEMOCRACYTHE FREE MARKETTECHNOLOGY
ARE OUR LIVES REALLY BETTER?
MORE AND MORE PEOPLE HAVE NOT GOT ENOUGH FOOD
THERE ARE MORE SLAVES TODAY THAN THERE WERE AT THE HEIGHT OF THE SLAVE TRADE
60% OF MODERN MEDICINES ARE COMPLETELY USELESS
PESTICIDES KILL MORE PREDATORS THAN PESTS BECAUSE THE POISONS BECOME MORE CONCENTRATED HIGHER UP THE FOOD CHAIN
AGRI-BUSINESS IS REDUCING PLANT DIVERSITY
AGRICULTURAL LAND IS BEING LOST AND TURNED INTO NATURAL WASTELAND AT TWICE THE RATE THAT NEW GROUND IS BROKEN
THE AVERAGE AMERICAN PRODUCES 2KG OF WASTE A DAY (MOST OF WHICH COULD BE RECYCLED)
DEFORESTATION WIPES OUT 100 000 ACRES OF FOREST A DAY.
SOME REMAIN UNDISCOVERED. ONLY 1% OF THE PLANTS IN THE RAINFORESTS OF THE
WORLD HAVE BEEN SCREENED FOR POSSIBLE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. CATHARANTHUS AND
DIGOXIN (JUST TWO OF THE PLANTS THAT HAVE BEEN SCREENED) SHOW ENORMOUS POTENTIAL AS CURES
FOR LEUKAEMIA AND HEART DISEASE.
MALNUTRITION, POVERTY AND SOCIAL ILLS ARE MULTIPLYING
THERE ARE 7 BILLION PEOPLE ALIVE ON EARTH TODAY. WE USE MORE FOSSIL FUELS IN ONE DAY THAN WAS PRODUCED OVER 100 YEARS FOSSILIZATION
IN INDIA, ON A GOOD DAY, 20000 PEOPLE ARE BORN.
AND EARTH’S RESOURCES ARE RAPIDLY DWINDLING
ONLY LATELY HAVE WE REALISED THE UNRESTRAINED FREE-MARKET CAPITALISM CANNOT CONTINUE TO IMPOVERISH THE REST OF THE PLANET. SOME CONSTRAINT IS REQUIRED.
THE PRESENT FINANCIAL CRISIS IS CAUSED BY OUR BAD HABITS CATCHING UP TO US.
YOUNG PEOPLE IN PARTICULAR SEEM TO BE SEARCHING FOR WAYS TO LIVE MORE HARMONIOUSLY AND MORE
GENTLY.
