We have failed to reverse the trends that gave rise to Earth Day years ago. While we receive high marks for our ability to turn the Earths resources to our immediate use, we are failing toprotect the Earth from ecological decline, according to the 50 year ecological report card issued in the latest issue of World Watch magazine.
The report charts a disconnect between the current growth in the worlds economy and the health of the Earthsfailing ecology. The number of cars, people, and fishing boats has boomed, butat the same time forest cover, farmland per person, and rates of fish catch have plummeted. The destructive trends that sparked the first Earth Day in 1970 continue to cause massive ecological decline, finds the report.
The report examines seven keymoments that have helped define the current state of the environment, including the invention of the automobile, the agricultural embrace of monoculture cropsby companies like McDonalds, and Indias backlash against family planning inthe face of enforced birth control.
In looking to the future, the report offers an outline of events past and future that could turn the negative trendsaround in the next 30 years. Theseshifts include the worldwide rise of citizen groups in response to corporate and government shortcomings, the potential for the Precautionary Principle toplay a major role in the outcome of climate negotiations, and the world wide spread of micropower small scale renewable energy that is increasingly providing off the grid energy in countries from the Dominican Republic to Zimbabwe.
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Written by: Worldwatch Institute
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