“I’ve never seen a problem that wouldn’t be easier to solve with fewer people, or harder, and ultimately impossible, with more".
Sir David Attenborough 2009.
“ The world would easily heal if each person brought a maximum of just one child into it, by 2075 the human presence would on earth would have been reduced by half. At such far more manageable numbers we would have the benefits of all our progress plus the wisdom to keep our presence under control. That wisdom would come partly from the losses and extinctions too late to reverse but also from the growing joy of watching the world daily become more wonderful. The evidence would not hide in statistics. It would be outside every human’s window, where refreshed air would fill each season with more birdsong”.
Alan Weisman. The World Without Us. 2007.
If We Fail
Perhaps the saddest thing is that if we fail Gaia will lose as much or more than we do. Not only will wildlife and whole ecosystems go extinct but in human civilization the planet has a precious resource. We are not merely a disease; we are through our intelligence and communication the planetary equivalent of a nervous system. We should be the heart and mind of the Earth not its malady. Perhaps the greatest value of the Gaia concept lies in its metaphor of a living Earth, which reminds us that we are part of it and that our contract with Gaia is not about human rights alone, but includes human obligations.
James Lovelock.
http://www.jameslovelock.org
