The Environment -

We must all become "radical environmentalists".

Last Updated 25 November 2000

We have only one environment - as Buckminster Fuller said it, "spaceship earth".

This environment must last us - humanity and the other species with which we share this planet - for another ten thousand / million / 100 million years or so, at least.

So, we must now move aggressively in these directions:

Sustainability - We must achieve long-term sustainable communities - neighborhoods, cities, states, and nations that can sustain themselves on far fewer resources than many consume today.

Environment neutrality - Any human activity must have a net neutral effect on the environment. Whatever we take, we must give back. This applies to harvesting forests as if they were crops, proactively renewed as they are used. This applies to trash generated by consumption - such trash must be at least biodegradable, and much of it must simply be eliminated, because we will run out of room for trash dumps.

Included in environment neutrality is the slowing and even reversal of global warming - the reduction or elimination of the production of gases that result in raising the average temperature of the planet's atmosphere and oceans.

A related topics is respect for other living species. If we are to husband animals for food, at least we can provide those animals with decent lives until such time as we slaughter them as food - constricted living spaces and mutilation for chickens and cattle must be eliminated, for example. Also to be eliminated are inadvertent but uncaring killing of life, such as dolphins caught in tuna nets.

The United States must take the lead in such changed attitudes. Our planet could not stand 6 or more billion people consuming and wasting at the rate the residents of the US do.