Message-ID: <001401be01e6$93e02a00$cdf4fea9@jay98> Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 10:15:43 -1000 From: Jay Hanson <mailto:j@QMAIL.COM> Subject: Re: Society for Economic Anthroplogy To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
>In Encountering Development, Arturo Escobar suggests the 20th century (and
>in particular the later half of the 20th century) is characterized by "a
>growing will to transform drastically two- thirds of the world in the
>pursuit of the goal of material prosperity and economic progress." Whether
Someone should tell Escobar that at least five more Earths would be needed. <G>
"Let us examine this prospect using ecological footprint analysis. If just the present world population of 5.8 billion people were to live at current North American ecological standards (say 4.5 ha/person), a reasonable first approximation of the total productive land requirement would be 26 billion ha (assuming present technology). However, there are only just over 13 billion ha of land on Earth, of which only 8.8 billion are ecologically productive cropland, pasture, or forest (1.5 ha/person). In short, we would need an additional two planet Earths to accommodate the increased ecological load of people alive today. If the population were to stabilize at between 10 and 11 billion sometime in the next century, five additional Earths would be needed, all else being equal -- and this just to maintain the present rate of ecological decline (Rees & Wackernagel, 1994)."
Revisiting Carrying Capacity: Area-Based Indicators of Sustainability by William E. Rees http://dieoff.com/page110.htm
Jay