Having read the articles for this day, it seems as though the pressures of Earth’s growing population seem too much for it. Already we have begun to see the frightening impact of man on this planet: ever since the industrial revolution, the human race has improved his standard of living greatly, but at great expense to his surroundings. As our population swells as it increases its ability to support more people, the natural world bears the burden thrust upon it by humanity. Garrett harden makes this point clear when he recalls the “tragedy of the commons” – a dilemma that plagued herding societies of the past. As herding societies share common lands, the vast swaths of lands on which their animals survived seemed inexhaustible. However, as each individual attempted to increase the output of his herd, more animals would appear with each passing generation. In time, the fields would become exhausted.
This lack of a foresight has already cost humanity numerous resources that can no longer be replenished. Garrett warns us that even our Natural Parks are at risk. Unless we can reverse course, our industrial processes will simply continue to have severe impacts on ecosystems.
There are measures we can take, Garrett tells us, but he warns that it may be hard to encourage people to follow them without expressly creating new laws. I agree with his analysis that the law is all too often behind the times. Our nature conservancy agencies must work with the congress to formulate new means to preserve our national and indeed global “commons.” Our lawmakers must look to the scientific research community for answers. Only grass-roots movements can truly hold our leaders accountable for the future of our resource security. Jared Diamond points to such resource exhaustions as the cause of the collapse of numerous civilizations, including the Maya, the people of Easter Island, and the Greenland Norse.
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