How can we best bring humanity into balance with the rest of nature, as opposed to in mortal combat with it?

Question

As a science writer, I've been told repeatedly by ecologists that the population of a species increases to meet the available food supply -- but also, that any species that outstrips its resources goes extinct. We humans have stretched our own resource base by chemically force-feeding crops and mowing down forests to plant more. The unintended consequences are poisoned soil and waters, diminishing wildlife and an unsustainable population that grows by a million more people every four days. How, I ask, can we find a balance between what we need to survive and the health of the planet?

Answer 1

Firstly any 'balance' is an artifice. Species quite naturally die out and we will be no exception. We can react with positive discrimination to preserve species but it turns out usually that these are the cute ones. We haven't any true understanding of the interplay of species populations (think Australia rabbits) and yet we are still contemplating introducing new ones (to protect cute species again). Until the human race can control its own voracious population explosion anything else is meaningless.

Answer 2

Your assertions reveal your contempt for mankind while you grovel at the altar of Mother Nature.  Human beings are the single greatest resource on this planet.  Our immutable thirst for knowledge, scientific progress, and the desire to constantly improve our surroundings is unique in all the world and its flora/fauna.

Get a real job with actual relevance to the suffering you see around you and stop blaming it on your fantasy boogeyman called progress.

Answer 3

One of the best ways is for the governments to control meat eating in any way that they can.  I think that people would have more respect for animals if they didn't regard them as food.  It is well known that the raising of beef is bad for the environment.  This would be very difficult I know.  Look at how resistant the Japanese are to the banning of hunting whales.  I also think that the wealthy countries should be subsidizing the countries, such as Brazil that have environmental treasures that benefit the whole world.

Answer 4

I think with the help of science we are going to that direction to create on earth a sustainable ecosystem.

Can "new" science clean up the mess the "old" science caused?

I see this as a race between the mess we create and the ability to clean it up.  

And hopefully the end product will be a sustainable ecosystem.

Answer 5

Firstly any 'balance' is an artifice.  Species quite naturally die out and we will be no exception.  We can react with positive discrimination to preserve species but it turns out usually that these are the cute ones.  We haven't any true understanding of the interplay of species populations (think Australia rabbits) and yet we are still contemplating introducing new ones (to protect cute species again).  Until the human race can control its own voracious population explosion anything else is meaningless.

Answer 6

Use incentives (cash, tax, gift) to drastically drop the world population( by half).  Encourage a move to value education, personal achievement, self sufficency and rural lifestyle.  Encourage and assist the poor in developing coutries - and in Canada - to grow their own food.  Discourage wasteful crops - coffee, sugar and chocolate.  Centralize science, technology, medicine, space exploration, etc.  Use legistation to stop all pollution of the environment and encourage conservation at all levels.

Answer 7

In the us we have changed many a bad farming habit. Soil erosion,  trying to not overwater therefore salinating the soil, no more mass clearing of forest or range lands, we have new laws in many cities on no dark roofs, or bldgs to cut down on energy use and therefore creating less heat in the cities, mandating the planting of more native plants and trees tigh water laws in arid states. las vegas is paying up to 25k to folks to rip out grass and xeriscape. cleaner makers in the us have recently drastically redid formulas and packaging.

Answer 8

Humans will come to a point of exausting the  planet, but im sure humans will go on. Probably not in out living forms, but prbably as robots. So in the end it is the poor that will suffer, the ones that depend on food and water. I place all this on Ray Kurzweils predictions.

So in the end humans will go on, in probably robot form, but alot will die out as the planet itself will probably reach its limit. Just make sure you are rich enough to upload your mind.

Answer 9

I would suggest to you that you examine Permaculture.  It is a combination of two/three words, Permanent, with Agriculture or Culture.  It is a form of community building with an agrarian base and holds to 3 key principals:

1. Care of the Earth, improving the water, soil, air in the community.

2.  Care of people, providing what is needed for everyone in that community with the means to exist.

3.  Fair shares, using resources wisely to take what is needed and reinvest the surplus.

Answer 10

We cannot. The earth is on a collision course to the end and there is nothing that we can do about it. It is absurd that human beings think they can control every aspect of life and that science is so logical and the answer to everything. God is the answer to everything and it is not up to us whether this world continues on or ends tomorrow. I am not a proverbial "Bible Beater", I am just speaking the truth and that is the best anyone can do.

Answer 11

When Human beings gained consciousness we lost the ability to be integrated into our environment. That's what Genesis is all about; getting kicked out of "the garden" because of the "sin" of knowledge. To reintegrate ourselve we need to become less conscious so that we will be less destructive and won't harbour such silly and dangerous notions as growth is good, travel is desirable, religion provides morality. Its our own cleverness that's killing us. And by the way, we are not destroying the world - we're destroying ourselves, the world will continue without us.

Answer 12

Why do people insist on separating humans from nature. We are nature and nature is us. We are doing better today than we were in the 70's. Science has done a lot to improve lives. The first thing you can do is stop talking as if we are somehow outside of nature. The entire concept of us against nature is for elementary school children and most of the ignorant masses unfortunately.

Answer 13

The root of all of the earth's problems is overpopulation!!!  Stop pushing out so many kids!

Everyone on the planet needs to realize that while having kids is  a great and rewarding experience for parents, their little contributions will grow up to consume much of the world's limited resources.  The world population continues to grow at an exponential rate and in my opinion, Mother Earth, will retaliate with measures to try to keep population balances in check (i.e. weather changes, disease), and limited resources may ultimately lead to war.

All this can be lessened if we chose (or mandated as the Chinese do) to restrict the number of children conceived.

Answer 14

We all need to change. We all need to help the environment.

I truly believe it's too late though. We are like 30 years too late. We are paying for things we've done to the environment years and years ago. I believe that we are only a few years away from complete and utter chaos. The population of humans is gonna drop 30%. Weather it's mother nature, politics, war. something big is about to happen and all we can do as people is find peace within ourselves, and hope that you are one of the strong to survive.

Answer 15

The only hope there is, is educating our children.  There is just an enormous amount of people out there that simply think that there is no problem. That in itself is an unsurmountable problem.  If our schools start educating children early on about resources, the environment, wildlife and the respect we need to have in order to exist in harmony with the rest of our planet, we may have a chance.  Currently I know of no curriculam that teaches this.  I talk to my son about these things all the time and he is now 15 and super enviromentally friendly as well as animal enthusiest.  Education is the only way!

Answer 16

The Chinese figured this out a long time ago and limited families to one child. It's a start. Will we ever see it in India and Africa? It's doubtful.

Dwindling resources, exploding population. A recipe for war and strife and special feeding requirements as in "Soylent Green"

I believe that humankind will survive long enough to be virtually wiped out by a natural catastrophy of Mount Toba proportions.

The human remnants will start again with less. Then there will be balance.

Answer 17

First of all, what beliefs do we have that we need to destroy so much and compromise the health of the planet in order to survive? We only and simply need to make choices and decisions based on what we need without damaging the planet. Right now, we are oblivious to what keeps us alive and we disrespect everything, including ourselves and the essence of life itself.

All we need to recognize and to act upon is that we are connected with the planet and one with it, and then treat it that way.

Answer 18

I don't think we can answer this question until Scientists are brought to responsibility for their statements and forecasts.  Why are so many unreproduceable results from science labs taken as truth by health organizations at the very top?  Because they have to produce results to keep the company running and make decisions based on consensus, as opposed to hard facts and reproduceable results.  With them at the helm of everything we believe about our environment, we need to make sure their statements are accurate.

Answer 19

The answer is relatively simple but somewhat drastic - ban all technology and go back to the live style of the American Indian- they had it right- The population would soon starve out to one that could be sustained on the food sources available- nature would soon be back in all it's glory , wild life would flourish and nature would soon be back in balance -To answer your question there is no balance, only extremes in either direction, which will always be in the favor of profit, not mankind or nature- so it will always be!

Answer 20

maybe if we tried living in balance with the rest of nature as opposed to being in mortal combat with it? that would mean abandoning our arrogance and feeling of entitlement to lordship over all of creation, our obsession with outcompeting and ultimately destroying one another and the world for lordship of the planet, our insatiable lust for material satisfaction beyond what's necessary to live, our complete disregard for the consequences of our actions to our fellow beings and the world, our pathological addiction to mortal combat. might take a few years, i'm guessing.

Answer 21

One of the most effective ways to reduce our ecological footprint is to eat lower on the food chain. By adopting a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, and eating locally grown organic food, we significantly reduce negative impact on the planet's other species, our habitat, and ecosystems. On every level, be it habitat and species loss, pollution, fossil fuel addiction, and climate change, becoming vegan, or at least vegetarian, is the only rational and sentient choice to make. For a minimum of sacrifice, we can effect great change for the better.

Answer 22

We need to start by asking and respecting the Native Peoples of the regions we inhabit. Traditional Knowledge can help us understand a world view and specific concepts necessary to regain balance with our environments. Take the Law of the Seventh Generation of the Haudenossaunne which states which every deliberation we must consider the impact of that decision on the next seven generations.

The gap between Scientific mindset and Traditional Environmental Knowledge has led to the great divide we see today.

Answer 23

"How can we best bring humanity into balance with the rest of nature, as opposed to in mortal combat with it?"

It would help if we were to first recognize that we are not separate from nature, but rather a part of it. A harmful part - at present. Given our history though, we can't even agree that the human race are all made of the same stuff, much less that our surroundings are.

I believe it was James Lovelock in his Gaia hypothesis who proposed that humans can be one of two things to our planet Gaia: the cancer or the brain. We need to decide which we want to be, altogether.

Birth control would be a start... maybe China's one-child policy wasn'at such a bad idea.

Answer 24

I believe we screwed ourselves by eliminating survial of the fitest with the advancement of science.  Medacations make for longer lives putting a drain on our resources as well as the areas required to maintain these resources.

Convenience plays a large part as well like putting a dam or causeway on river system effectivly removes the fish stocks that sustain the wildlife population in the area.  As well as any economy from that fishery.

Can we reach the point of balance again.....probally not.

Answer 25

Restrict population growth in heavy populated countries.  Also the government at one time was talking about only farm land could be sold as farm land more and more now days you see forest and farms gone and housing complexes exploding.

Reduces land taxes for the farm land and encourage farming and woodlots.  Make laws every 2 acres of timber cut and least 1-2 acres of new trees have to be replaced.  

Just look around at all the disasters around the world Mother Nature is getting revenge and saying wake up people BEFORE IT IS TO LATE!!!!!!!!

Answer 26

Heal the Earth... Heal Ourselves

Heal Ourselves... Heal the Earth

Healing the Earth, one person at a time

We are all connected

All One/Alone

in Unity

Whoever we are

Wherever we are in the world

Unity is the Heart of CommUNITY

From the awareness of Unity, comes a sense of kinship

From kinship comes a sense of connectedness...

From this connectedness comes of mutual support

From a place of mutual support grows a sense responsibility to the "whole".

When we truly understand and appreciate the inherent Unity of Life, we become accountable and will conduct ourselves in ways that are sustainable - supporting Life for the long-term.

Answer 27

Malthusian control has been in effect - at least since he first proposed the theory. You are fear mongering. Humanity adjusts itself automatically - barring the modern attitude to starvation and birth statistics. The planet will adjust - irrespective of human culture. We must be prepared for that inevitability - regardless of assumed religious and culturist limits. Don't worry - you'll probably be OK. Just sit back and let it happen - and do whatever you personally have to do - as we all do.

Answer 28

By solving the 3 biggest challenges to our environment:

1. Loss of Natural Resources

2. Pollution and Waste

3. Climate Change

We can do this by:

1. Controlling (and eventually lowering) the world population:

A lower population would help lower resource demand, pollution and waste, and greenhouse gas emissions.

.

2. Harmonizing science and technology with nature:

We are starting to see this with hybrid cars and plasma  treatment that converts waste into energy.

Just imagine an entire world where clean energy is free...  

3. Changing old human habits/views:

A Green Education for all, where all people grow up learning how to be responsible protectors of the planet.

Culture, religion, and economy should not outrank the health of our planet.

Remember that all future Earthlings (humans, animals, plants, etc.) inherit the planet from us when we are gone.

Let's give it to them in a better shape than it was handed to us...and teach them to keep it that way :)

The Green Gorilla reminds you to go vegan, donate blood, and enjoy fresh fruit!

Answer 29

It's as simple as Le Chatelier's Principle.  Populations grow and shrink in response to available resources. It will work itself out. It might not be pretty, but it will work itself out. There isn't going to be a single cataclysmic event that wipes out the population; the population will simply shrink in response to the (anthropogenically induced) resource shortage, eventually arriving at some sort of sustainable equilibrium.

Now, if we can just avoid killing ourselves fighting over the resources before then.....

Answer 30

I would like to see a change in the social structure of North America. I think that as food disappears, wars begin, and disease spreads across the land - people will revert to tribal living and sustainable agriculture. Already, people are learning to live "off the grid".  Not just the power grid, but the supermarket grid, the public schools grid, the rent/mortgage grid, and the 'working-for-big-corporations-for-nonexi... futures' grid.

Answer 31

In our world of greed and excess there is no help or hope. Until we see ourselves as part of the earth instead of diluding oursleves into thinking that we own it and until we see mankind as us instead of us and them we'll be forever doomed. We need learn to share, to understand, to find balance and most of all to love.

"when the power of love over comes the love of power the world will know peace!" Jimi Hendrix