Living Within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population TaboosOxford University Press, 1993 - 339 páginas "We fail to mandate economic sanity," writes Garrett Hardin, "because our brains are addled by...compassion." With such startling assertions, Hardin has cut a swathe through the field of ecology for decades, winning a reputation as a fearless and original thinker. A prominent biologist, ecological philosopher, and keen student of human population control, Hardin now offers the finest summation of his work to date, with an eloquent argument for accepting the limits of the earth's resources--and the hard choices we must make to live within them. In Living Within Limits, Hardin focuses on the neglected problem of overpopulation, making a forceful case for dramatically changing the way we live in and manage our world. Our world itself, he writes, is in the dilemma of the lifeboat: it can only hold a certain number of people before it sinks--not everyone can be saved. The old idea of progress and limitless growth misses the point that the earth (and each part of it) has a limited carrying capacity; sentimentality should not cloud our ability to take necessary steps to limit population. But Hardin refutes the notion that goodwill and voluntary restraints will be enough. Instead, nations where population is growing must suffer the consequences alone. Too often, he writes, we operate on the faulty principle of shared costs matched with private profits. In Hardin's famous essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons," he showed how a village common pasture suffers from overgrazing because each villager puts as many cattle on it as possible--since the costs of grazing are shared by everyone, but the profits go to the individual. The metaphor applies to global ecology, he argues, making a powerful case for closed borders and an end to immigration from poor nations to rich ones. "The production of human beings is the result of very localized human actions; corrective action must be local....Globalizing the 'population problem' would only ensure that it would never be solved." Hardin does not shrink from the startling implications of his argument, as he criticizes the shipment of food to overpopulated regions and asserts that coercion in population control is inevitable. But he also proposes a free flow of information across boundaries, to allow each state to help itself. "The time-honored practice of pollute and move on is no longer acceptable," Hardin tells us. We now fill the globe, and we have no where else to go. In this powerful book, one of our leading ecological philosophers points out the hard choices we must make--and the solutions we have been afraid to consider. |
Dentro del libro
Resultados 1-3 de 74
Página 111
... future . Can we predict it ? Can we control it ? How much sacrifice are we willing to make in the present for the promise of a better future ? The questions are harrowing , and agreement comes hard . The year 1921 was a time of famine ...
... future . Can we predict it ? Can we control it ? How much sacrifice are we willing to make in the present for the promise of a better future ? The questions are harrowing , and agreement comes hard . The year 1921 was a time of famine ...
Página 115
... Future Orientation " : Its Selective Consequences The story of the Russian patriarch that began this chapter points to an enduring problem of the human species : how does one weigh future ( possible ) good against present ( certain ) ...
... Future Orientation " : Its Selective Consequences The story of the Russian patriarch that began this chapter points to an enduring problem of the human species : how does one weigh future ( possible ) good against present ( certain ) ...
Página 116
... future orientation must have been a difficult one . Def- erring gratification is always risky , for how does one know that a predicted future will ever arrive ? When present pain is certain , what is there to support faith in some ...
... future orientation must have been a difficult one . Def- erring gratification is always risky , for how does one know that a predicted future will ever arrive ? When present pain is certain , what is there to support faith in some ...
Contenido
The Challenge of Limits | 3 |
Escape to the Stars? | 7 |
Population and Progress | 17 |
Derechos de autor | |
Otras 26 secciones no mostradas
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos Garrett Hardin Vista previa limitada - 1993 |
Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos Garrett Hardin Vista previa limitada - 1995 |
Living Within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos Garrett Hardin Vista de fragmentos - 1993 |
Términos y frases comunes
accepted altruism American animals become behavior birth called carrying capacity cause century Chapter comes common consequences conservation continue costs course created death default demand doubt earth economic economists effect energy example experience fact fertility Figure future give given greater grow human idea immigration important increase individual instance interest land later less limits living look major Malthus matter means million mind nature never nuclear percent perhaps person political poor population control population growth position possible present problem produce progress question reason result scientists selection sense shows social society sort species supply supported term theory things thought thousand tion true United University wealth
Referencias a este libro
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies Richard Heinberg Sin vista previa disponible - 2005 |