"...the gains of low infant and maternal mortality and rises in population longevity—brought about in great part by harnessing fossil fuels, the agricultural revolution, modernization, and disease and injury reduction efforts—in many instances impedes rather than facilitates moving toward sustainable living. It can be argued from the ecological perspective that most public health efforts, as humanitarian as they are by intention and immediate effect, through accelerating population pressures on the environment are paradoxically hastening the destruction of the earth's habitat on which the next generation of humanity depends. It raises the concern that our perceived gains may be only illusory and temporary, with huge but unmeasured and unlinked environmental costs that will eventually lead to shorter lives of misery for our descendants."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Harold B. Weiss, "Overshoot" in Public Health Reports (January-February 2009).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Overpopulation
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Overpopulation
208 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Overpopulation →
Related Quotes
"In 1800, every human on the planet had a corresponding 80 kg of mammal mass in the wild. Wildland mammals outweighed …"
"Energy has been fundamental to our story of growth. The various hockey stick curves over the last century or so are a…"
"Our fossil fuel bonanza has left our ecosystem in a perilous state. We have destroyed vast forests and habitats, poll…"
"The human explosion has accelerated across the millennia, most recently reaching a fever pitch owing to the employmen…"
"Population estimates are usually based on demographic data alone with no consideration of exogenous factors. This is …"
"As if the Enlightenment was not enough, in quick succession we joined another enormous river. One could say that the …"
"Given the Maoist position that a large population was a “resource”, rather than a burden, for the Communist state, it…"
"What did we do with our fossil fuel bonanza? We exploded population by revolutionizing agriculture [and health]. Now …"
"…fossil fuels allowed us to drastically overshoot the natural carrying capacity of the planet, and that bill will com…"
"We have used [fossil fuels] to expand the human enterprise and population, knock down forests, destroy and fragment h…"