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The Human Problem

The Human Problem Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/44/4/211/221057 by DeepDyve user on 07 August 2020 ternational Monetary Fund) ro ac­ count on the maj ority of the current ceierate the adoption (perhaps I crop of politicians to guide the should say imposition) of thc capi­ changes that are necessary. And as Myers points out, even rhe current talist free-trade model in the former environmental rdugees are not get­ Soviet Union and the rest of the world. ting much international attention in The noxious social effecrs of this this age of recession-driven declines ra ce toward a corporate dominared, in foreign aid. In the November issue (BioScience eapitalist free-trade model are out­ lined by Brecher (1993): falling 43: 706-708), Mary O'Brien urged wages, global stagnation, polariza­ biologists to take sides and fight for tion of haves and have-nots, loss of the future of rhe biosphere. May I 10eal and national democratic con­ also suggcst that reading history and trol, sovereign transnational eorpo­ economics, especially from alterna­ rations, unaccountable global insti­ tive sources (i.e., noncorporate me­ rurions, and global economie conflict dia), can help us more fuHy under­ in the race to attraet capital for stand the trends that sweep us along development. Ta this list can be so that we can choose where and added Myers' excellent diseussian when to act in an intergenerationally and interspecifically equitable man­ of the coming wavc of ecalogie rdu­ gees, most of whom are also refu­ ner. Take a side now! gees from the ravages left by the CHARLES R. CLEMENT current economic model. Myers' Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas predictions fit snugly into Holdgate's da Amazonia (1991) view of rhe future environ­ Manaus, AM ment, where overpopulation, defor­ Brazil December 1993 was anorher stirn­ estation, desertification, loss of ulating issue of BioScience. Espe­ biodiversity, industrial and urban References cired cially interesting was the juxtapo­ pollution, and c1imare change are sition of Norman Myer's articlc all symptoms of the ecopathogenieiry Brecher, J. 1993. Global village or global on environmcntal refugces (43: of human eulture. pillage? The Nation 257: 685-688. 752-761) and Warren Hern's ar­ Brecher, Hern, Holdgate, and Chomsky, N. 1993. Year 501: The Conquest Continues. South End Press, Boston, MA. tiele on the human species aod ies Mycrs a11 believe that a political Daly, H. E.1993. The perils oi free trade. culture as an ecoparhogcnic proccss solution will be found to stap the Sei. Am. 269(5): 50-57. (43: 768- 773). malignant process and make human Holdgate, M. W. 199:1. The environment of Hern's ecopathogenic model for culture a henign component of the tomorrow. 1<:nvironment 33(6): ~4-20, examining humanity's effec! on the biosphere again. Brecher outlines biosphere is fascinating. This model some of rhe grassroots eHorts, and mus[ be fleshcd out wirh some more Holdgate suggests policy efforts to TAKING SIDES history (e.g., Chomsky 1993) and make this changeover a reahty. The modern cconomic trends, such as question is, are human socictics up "Being a scientist means taking the reeent approval of NAFTA and to the challenge? sidcs" (M. H. O'Brien, BioScience the apparent "success" of the Uru­ If we take Chomsky and Daly 43: 706-708). Indeed! [had always guay Round GATT talks, especially scriously, whieh I do, there are sig­ held that being a scicntist means, beca lise free trade, as currently prac­ nificant doubts about the answer to above a11 else, secking and tdling ticed, has been shown to be one of this qucsrion. As Hern pointed out the truth. Truth: 00 matter whose the pathogenic agents (e.g., Daly so nieely in his arti cle (citing Demeny hypothesis it supports or negates, 1993). The current antiecological 1991), thc United Nations' projec­ no matter with whose politieal economic model is ccrtainly one of tion of a stabilization in world hu­ agenda it agrees or disagrees, no the major pathogenic proeesses at man populations is based on "the mattcr how polirica11y correet or work within Hern ' s ecoparhogenic informal insertion of unspecificd incorrect it is, no matter what the model. Even the few positive trends assumptions," the major one being funding irnplications rnay be. Don't that Hern manages to identify on that continucd growth on an expo­ we scientists owe rhat to the society the palitical front (e.g., Clinton's ncntial curve secms "implausible. " that supports us? Don't we owe to reversal of the Reagan/Bush abar­ If one of our major international them an unwavering commitment tion rcstrietions and efforts of non­ institutions uses wishful thinking as to absolute honestly and integrity? govcrnmental organizations and an important eomponent of their lf they cannot believe us, then whom government to reverse some envi­ population model, how can we get a ean they bclieve? ronmental degradation) pale in the handle on the challenge? As the re­ face of the race by the Uni ted States cent trends of the expansion of rhe GARY A. RITCHIE andother G-7 governmenrs and their eapitalist free-rrade model show 8026 61st Avenue N.E. agencies (e.g., World Bank and In- quite clearly, we can obviously not Olympia, WA 98.516 Apnl1994 211 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png BioScience Oxford University Press

The Human Problem

Clement, Charles, R.
BioScience , Volume 44 (4) – Apr 1, 1994
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References (2)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© 1994 American Institute of Biological Sciences
ISSN
0006-3568
eISSN
1525-3244
DOI
10.2307/1312221
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/44/4/211/221057 by DeepDyve user on 07 August 2020 ternational Monetary Fund) ro ac­ count on the maj ority of the current ceierate the adoption (perhaps I crop of politicians to guide the should say imposition) of thc capi­ changes that are necessary. And as Myers points out, even rhe current talist free-trade model in the former environmental rdugees are not get­ Soviet Union and the rest of the world. ting much international attention in The noxious social effecrs of this this age of recession-driven declines ra ce toward a corporate dominared, in foreign aid. In the November issue (BioScience eapitalist free-trade model are out­ lined by Brecher (1993): falling 43: 706-708), Mary O'Brien urged wages, global stagnation, polariza­ biologists to take sides and fight for tion of haves and have-nots, loss of the future of rhe biosphere. May I 10eal and national democratic con­ also suggcst that reading history and trol, sovereign transnational eorpo­ economics, especially from alterna­ rations, unaccountable global insti­ tive sources (i.e., noncorporate me­ rurions, and global economie conflict dia), can help us more fuHy under­ in the race to attraet capital for stand the trends that sweep us along development. Ta this list can be so that we can choose where and added Myers' excellent diseussian when to act in an intergenerationally and interspecifically equitable man­ of the coming wavc of ecalogie rdu­ gees, most of whom are also refu­ ner. Take a side now! gees from the ravages left by the CHARLES R. CLEMENT current economic model. Myers' Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas predictions fit snugly into Holdgate's da Amazonia (1991) view of rhe future environ­ Manaus, AM ment, where overpopulation, defor­ Brazil December 1993 was anorher stirn­ estation, desertification, loss of ulating issue of BioScience. Espe­ biodiversity, industrial and urban References cired cially interesting was the juxtapo­ pollution, and c1imare change are sition of Norman Myer's articlc all symptoms of the ecopathogenieiry Brecher, J. 1993. Global village or global on environmcntal refugces (43: of human eulture. pillage? The Nation 257: 685-688. 752-761) and Warren Hern's ar­ Brecher, Hern, Holdgate, and Chomsky, N. 1993. Year 501: The Conquest Continues. South End Press, Boston, MA. tiele on the human species aod ies Mycrs a11 believe that a political Daly, H. E.1993. The perils oi free trade. culture as an ecoparhogcnic proccss solution will be found to stap the Sei. Am. 269(5): 50-57. (43: 768- 773). malignant process and make human Holdgate, M. W. 199:1. The environment of Hern's ecopathogenic model for culture a henign component of the tomorrow. 1<:nvironment 33(6): ~4-20, examining humanity's effec! on the biosphere again. Brecher outlines biosphere is fascinating. This model some of rhe grassroots eHorts, and mus[ be fleshcd out wirh some more Holdgate suggests policy efforts to TAKING SIDES history (e.g., Chomsky 1993) and make this changeover a reahty. The modern cconomic trends, such as question is, are human socictics up "Being a scientist means taking the reeent approval of NAFTA and to the challenge? sidcs" (M. H. O'Brien, BioScience the apparent "success" of the Uru­ If we take Chomsky and Daly 43: 706-708). Indeed! [had always guay Round GATT talks, especially scriously, whieh I do, there are sig­ held that being a scicntist means, beca lise free trade, as currently prac­ nificant doubts about the answer to above a11 else, secking and tdling ticed, has been shown to be one of this qucsrion. As Hern pointed out the truth. Truth: 00 matter whose the pathogenic agents (e.g., Daly so nieely in his arti cle (citing Demeny hypothesis it supports or negates, 1993). The current antiecological 1991), thc United Nations' projec­ no matter with whose politieal economic model is ccrtainly one of tion of a stabilization in world hu­ agenda it agrees or disagrees, no the major pathogenic proeesses at man populations is based on "the mattcr how polirica11y correet or work within Hern ' s ecoparhogenic informal insertion of unspecificd incorrect it is, no matter what the model. Even the few positive trends assumptions," the major one being funding irnplications rnay be. Don't that Hern manages to identify on that continucd growth on an expo­ we scientists owe rhat to the society the palitical front (e.g., Clinton's ncntial curve secms "implausible. " that supports us? Don't we owe to reversal of the Reagan/Bush abar­ If one of our major international them an unwavering commitment tion rcstrietions and efforts of non­ institutions uses wishful thinking as to absolute honestly and integrity? govcrnmental organizations and an important eomponent of their lf they cannot believe us, then whom government to reverse some envi­ population model, how can we get a ean they bclieve? ronmental degradation) pale in the handle on the challenge? As the re­ face of the race by the Uni ted States cent trends of the expansion of rhe GARY A. RITCHIE andother G-7 governmenrs and their eapitalist free-rrade model show 8026 61st Avenue N.E. agencies (e.g., World Bank and In- quite clearly, we can obviously not Olympia, WA 98.516 Apnl1994 211

Journal

BioScience – Oxford University Press

Published: Apr 1, 1994

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