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popolazione
Cari tutti,
riguardo al dibattito sulla popolazione, ecco due fonti che sostengono
tesi in apparenza contrapposte.
Si noti comunque coloro che vedono la sovrappopolazione come un problema
parlano di popolazione Globale e quindi anche e soprattutto(?) del nord
del mondo
Spero interessi
Alessandro Gimona
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.populationaction.org/pubs/biodiv00/html/summary.htm
The world's biological wealth
is
dwindling. Earth–the only
location
in the universe that we know
supports life–is being
transformed
into a world that is
genetically
poorer. The loss is
irretrievable,
and its roots lie in the
spectacular
success of a single species:
us,
Homo sapiens. The disappearance of species,
proceeding
thousands of times faster today than in the pre-human
past, is still
accelerating and is likely to advance even more
rapidly in the 21st
century. No one can know when the process will end,
or what the
world of nature will look like when it does.
Hopeful signs do brighten this dark prospect,
however. Among the
most hopeful is that human population may well reach
a plateau or
peak by the middle of the 21st century. The pressure
of human
activities on remaining habitats could reach a
maximum around the
same time–and then, perhaps, begin to subside.
Among the most pressing questions are: Does human
population
growth really matter
significantly influence human population trends, and
can they do
this while upholding the basic human right of couples
and
individuals to make their own decisions about
reproduction, free
from interference? The evidence shows that the answer
to all
these questions is yes.
Scientists are becoming increasingly convinced that
human beings
have caused ecosystem change and species extinction
almost
since our own species emerged. Between 50,000 and
10,000 years
ago, as early populations of humans expanded across
the
continents, more than 200 species of large animals
disappeared
forever. Then, between 1,500 and 500 years ago, as
human
populations reached the farthest oceanic islands,
over 1,000
species of island birds went extinct. Today's wave of
extinctions,
however, is even more extensive. Moreover, it is
fundamentally
different from its two predecessors in ways that
relate strongly to
the pervasiveness and size of today's human
population:
For the first time, human activities are
affecting
species of all types and habits, at all points
of the
globe, and pushing many toward extinction.
Scientists
project that at least half of all living species
could ultimately
disappear due to habitat loss alone, creating a
mass
extinction on a scale comparable to those that
have ended
past geologic eras.
Apart from habitat loss, other agents of
human-caused
extinction are now at work. Even more species
could
disappear as a result of pollution, overhunting,
overfishing
and inadvertent introduction of exotic species
into
weakened ecosystems. Hanging over the future of
all life is
the puzzle of how global climate will change in
coming
centuries as a result of human influences, and
how these
changes will affect ecosystems and the species
they
support.
Not all species are at risk, however. Evolution
is
resilient. A small percentage of species–from
pigeons, to
weeds, to microbial parasites–have proliferated
beyond their
pre-human numbers or ranges. Rapidly evolving
pests and
disease-causing organisms could swell their
ranks.
Humanity itself, with more than 30 times the
population
density it ever could have achieved without
agriculture, now
appears to have become the central organizing
reality
around which non-human life will evolve.
more...
----------------------------------------------------------
> LATEST CORNER HOUSE BRIEFING PAPER
>
> The Malthus Factor:
> Poverty, Politics and Population in Capitalist Development
> No 20, July 2000
>
> Consider these statements:
>
> 'There will not be enough food in the world unless we use genetic
> engineering in agriculture - because of population growth in the Third
> World.'
>
> 'In countries which are already experiencing water shortages, millions
of
> people will be sentenced to hydrological poverty - because of
population
> growth in the Third World.'
>
> 'The security of Europe and the United States is under threat from
> immigration - because of population growth in the Third
he countries of the South are certainly
growing,
> but where is the discussion of cash crop agriculture and food
distribution?
> Of large-scale dams built for electricity generation and employment in
the
> construction industry? Of land rights and disruption of subsistence
> economies?
>
> The commonplace assumption that population growth is the root cause of
> poverty, hunger and environmental degradation has obscured other
> explanations of these phenomena for over 200 years.
>
> The latest Corner House briefing paper, 'The Malthus Factor', outlines
the
> goal of Thomas Malthus, the 19th century originator of a theory about
> population, to absolve the state and wealthier segments of society
from
> responsibility for poverty. Author Eric Ross explores the theory's
uses in
> eugenic, anti-immigration and environmental arguments, and traces its
use by
> anti-Communist Cold War and Green Revolution interests. He also
considers
> some of the ways population thinking is used today in discussions of
> globalisation, violent conflict, immigration and the environment.
>
>
> CONTENTS
> The Malthus Factor:
> Poverty, Politics and Population in Capitalist Development
> No 20, July 2000
>
> - Malthus's "Law of Nature"
> - The Defence of Private Property
> - Welfare Reform
> - Eugenics
> - Immigrants and Radicals
> - The Rise of Demography
> - From Eugenics to Environmentalism
> - Cold War Warriors
> - The Life and Death of Land Reform
> --Vietnam
> --The Philippines
> --Guatemala
> - Selling Chemicals: False Premises, False Promises
> - Whose Green Revolution?
> - Malthusianism Today
> - The Malthusian Ecology of Global Conflicts
> - New Malthusian Fears of Immigration
> - Beyond Malthus
>
> Boxes:
> - Ireland: The Promised Land of the Principle of Population?
> - Vaccination Against Population?
> - Green Revolution and 'Surplus' Population in the Philippines
> - Suppressing Alternatives to the Green Revolution
>
> Copies available from Th
ur address to cornerhouse@gn.apc.org
> Printed paper copies £2/$3, cheques/checks/eurocheques payable to
> 'CornerHouse Research', address below, sorry - no credit cards.
>
> Ask for a list of other briefing papers.
>
>
> Sarah Sexton/Larry Lohmann/Nicholas Hildyard
> THE CORNER HOUSE
> PO Box 3137
> Station Road
> Sturminster Newton
> Dorset DT10 1YJ
> BRITAIN
> Tel: +44 (0)1258 473795
> Fax: +44 (0)1258 473748
> Email <cornerhouse@gn.apc.org>