1996 Series 1 Number 19 Page 1
Dr. Digby McLaren, past President of the Royal Society of Canada and the Geological Society of America, and prominent CACOR member, outlined his belief that population growth, economic growth, and misuse of technology had caused the human population to exceed Earth’s carrying capacity for Home sapiens. He felt there were limited prospects for a slowing in population growth in the upcoming two decades.
Digby outlined various views about the population challenge and its effects, including those of the Royal Society. He argued that a holistic approach to managing humanity and our environment was essential for achievement of sustainability.
He concluded with these words: “We must recognize the enormity of the offence we are committing on our blind misuse of power to achieve a temporary dominance that is directed to exploitation and killing within the framework of the system. We must redirect our group intellect towards changing current behaviour to patterns based on a holistic general theory of cause and effect derived from empirical evidence furnished by the physical, biological, and social sciences. We must [also] recognize that the subject of this paper, population, is, albeit unconsciously, the overall driving force for humankind’s attack on the ecosphere and, by the impetus of its growth, is preventing an immediate and urgently needed end to destruction of our own life-support system.”
Lin to | Population Growth–Should We Be Worried.
This article was originally published in 1996 in Population and the Environment: 17(3).
Dr. McLaren’s life is recapped at the link below.
Link to | Digby McLaren (on Wikipedia)
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