Is Humanity Unsustainable?
Alex Smith | 31.05.2010 05:55 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | Energy Crisis | Sheffield
Are we too stupid to survive? Co-inventor of "the ecological footprint" now calls for a planned contraction of the economy, to save the biosphere and promote world fairness. Speech by Canadian biologist Dr. Bill Rees.
What makes a mild-mannered biology professor call for a planned collapse of the economy?
Canadian scientist Bill Rees would know. He was an inventor of the ecological footprint concept, and has been measuring our impact on the planet for decades.
Now he's worried about survival. Ours and all living systems.
I'm Alex Smith. As I welcome you to Radio Ecoshock, many capitals have been war zones. Not just in Somalia, but Bangkok, Thailand, Kingston, Jamaica and even Athens. Another is flooded in Poland. Most Western capitals wrestle with deep economic worries, as stocks drop daily, as cities and states totter on the edge of bankruptcy.
The largest American river delta is flooding with oil, during the warmest three months on record.
The causes are well-known, but why can't we solve anything? Is it possible technology has outstripped the slow evolution of human brains? Are we too stupid to survive?
In this program, you will hear a mile-stone lecture by Dr. Bill Rees. About our three brains: the reactive reptile stem, mammalian emotions, and the late-coming attempt at rationality. Which wins?
Rees was invited to address a meeting of World Federalists in Vancouver, Canada. Conspiracy theorists and New World Order freaks can relax. The venue was almost incidental, to this summary of four decades of research into the human predicament.
Even here, technology intervened. The mouse cord was too short to allow Dr. Rees to stand near his computer. The professor, inspiration to more than one generation of ecologists, stood by my bare microphone, speaking 53 minutes without notes. His delivery was perfect, the message pressing and clear.
From a room in the Unitarian Church in Vancouver Canada, April 15th, 2010, here is Dr. Bill Rees. The title is "Is Humanity Inherently Unsustainable?"
READ A FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
http://www.ecoshock.org/transcripts/Rees_100415_transcript.htm
After explaining years of research showing humanity has passed a biological condition known as "overshoot" - Rees is examining an evolutionary weakness in the human brain, which may explain our failure to react to dangerous threats to our own survival.
That was Professor William Rees from the University of British Columbia. He is the co-inventor of the ecological footprint, and a Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. This speech was recorded by Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock, hosted by the Vancouver Chapter of the World Federalists, on April 14th, 2010.
Canadian scientist Bill Rees would know. He was an inventor of the ecological footprint concept, and has been measuring our impact on the planet for decades.
Now he's worried about survival. Ours and all living systems.
I'm Alex Smith. As I welcome you to Radio Ecoshock, many capitals have been war zones. Not just in Somalia, but Bangkok, Thailand, Kingston, Jamaica and even Athens. Another is flooded in Poland. Most Western capitals wrestle with deep economic worries, as stocks drop daily, as cities and states totter on the edge of bankruptcy.
The largest American river delta is flooding with oil, during the warmest three months on record.
The causes are well-known, but why can't we solve anything? Is it possible technology has outstripped the slow evolution of human brains? Are we too stupid to survive?
In this program, you will hear a mile-stone lecture by Dr. Bill Rees. About our three brains: the reactive reptile stem, mammalian emotions, and the late-coming attempt at rationality. Which wins?
Rees was invited to address a meeting of World Federalists in Vancouver, Canada. Conspiracy theorists and New World Order freaks can relax. The venue was almost incidental, to this summary of four decades of research into the human predicament.
Even here, technology intervened. The mouse cord was too short to allow Dr. Rees to stand near his computer. The professor, inspiration to more than one generation of ecologists, stood by my bare microphone, speaking 53 minutes without notes. His delivery was perfect, the message pressing and clear.
From a room in the Unitarian Church in Vancouver Canada, April 15th, 2010, here is Dr. Bill Rees. The title is "Is Humanity Inherently Unsustainable?"
READ A FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
http://www.ecoshock.org/transcripts/Rees_100415_transcript.htm
After explaining years of research showing humanity has passed a biological condition known as "overshoot" - Rees is examining an evolutionary weakness in the human brain, which may explain our failure to react to dangerous threats to our own survival.
That was Professor William Rees from the University of British Columbia. He is the co-inventor of the ecological footprint, and a Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. This speech was recorded by Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock, hosted by the Vancouver Chapter of the World Federalists, on April 14th, 2010.
Alex Smith
e-mail:
radio@ecoshock.org
Homepage:
http://www.ecoshock.org
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
Homo Sap
31.05.2010 13:56
The opportunity to change the climate of opinion in time to prevent a mass extinction that will eradicate Homo Sapiens was back in the 1910s. That opportunity was lost because those who saw the way self suppressed in order not to offend the Religious among the Founders of their Organisation.
It now looks probable that only extremely rich who have been secretly building a self sustaining space colony that is a microcosm of all EarthLife will survive to repopulate the planet when it recovers from homo sap's toxic output.
Ilyan
People with Bill Rees on C&C
09.06.2010 06:28
Many eminent people here in the UK and beyond have publicly gone a long way towards agreeing with him and co-signed this letter to the new UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change: - http://www.gci.org.uk/politics.html
You are welcome to join them [contact on letter].
Aubrey Meyer
e-mail: aubrey.meyer@btinternet.com
Homepage: http://gci.org.uk