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Home › 1998 › Volume 49, Issue 11 (April) › The Scale of Our Ecological Crisis
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Topics: Marxist Ecology
JOHN BELLAMY FOSTER, is a member of
the Board of the Monthly Review
Foundation, teaches sociology at the
University of Oregon and is coeditor of
Organization & Environment. He is the
author of The Theory of Monopoly
Capital (1986) and The Vulnerable
Planet (1994), both published )y
Monthly Review Press.
The Scale of Our Ecological Crisis
by John Bellamy Foster
One of the problems that has most
troubled analysts of global ecological crisis
is the question of scale. How momentous is
the ecological crisis? Is the survival of the
human species in question? What about life
in general? Are the basic biogeochemical
cycles of the planet vulnerable? Although
few now deny that there is such a thing as
an environmental crisis, or that it is in some
sense global in character, some rational
scientists insist that it is wrong to say that life itself, much less the planet, is seriously
threatened. Even the mass extinction of species, it is pointed out, has previously
occurred in evolutionary history. Critics of environmentalism (often themselves claiming
to be environmentalists) have frequently used these rational reservations on the part of
scientists to brand the environmental movement as “apocalyptic.”
Lest one conclude that this is simply a political dispute between those on the side of
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nature and the greater part of humanity, on the one hand, and those who support the
ecologically destructive status quo, on the other, it should be emphasized that the same
question has been often raised within the left itself—and sometimes by individuals
deeply concerned about environmental problems. An example of this is David Harvey’s
new book, Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference (1996). Harvey devotes
considerable space in this work to criticizing my book, The Vulnerable Planet: A Short
Economic History of the Environment (Monthly Review Press, 1994, 1999), for the
“apocalyptic” character of its argument. In Harvey’s words,
[T]he postulation of a planetary ecological crisis, the very idea that the planet i.
This document is a 16,469 word MSc thesis by Heather Alberro from 2015 that examines challenges posed by contemporary capitalism and explores two social movements - The Venus Project and Transition Towns Network - as responses. It provides historical context on criticisms of capitalism dating back to the 19th century and analyzes modern issues like climate change, inequality, and environmental degradation. The thesis argues that fundamental reconstruction of social organization is needed for long-term sustainability and happiness.
The document discusses the rise of apocalyptic visions and narratives around environmental crises like climate change. It argues that discussions have shifted from alarm to acceptance of planetary deterioration as environmental problems become normalized. It also critiques how apocalyptic thinking can foreclose alternative futures and be appropriated by authoritarian, xenophobic, and misanthropic political agendas that promise salvation by maintaining the status quo.
Western culture lives in fear of wild nature, both external and internal, writes ecotherapist Mary-Jayne Rust. How can we find a way of working with nature in this consumerist age?
Global Warming DelusionsBy DANIEL B. BOTKINGlobal warming does.docxwhittemorelucilla
Global Warming Delusions
By DANIEL B. BOTKIN
Global warming doesn't matter except to the extent that it will affect life -- ours and that of all living things on Earth. And contrary to the latest news, the evidence that global warming will have serious effects on life is thin. Most evidence suggests the contrary.
Kilimanjaro's shrinking ice cap is not directly related to global warming.
Case in point: This year's United Nations report on climate change and other documents say that 20%-30% of plant and animal species will be threatened with extinction in this century due to global warming -- a truly terrifying thought. Yet, during the past 2.5 million years, a period that scientists now know experienced climatic changes as rapid and as warm as modern climatological models suggest will happen to us, almost none of the millions of species on Earth went extinct. The exceptions were about 20 species of large mammals (the famous megafauna of the last ice age -- saber-tooth tigers, hairy mammoths and the like), which went extinct about 10,000 to 5,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, and many dominant trees and shrubs of northwestern Europe. But elsewhere, including North America, few plant species went extinct, and few mammals.
We're also warned that tropical diseases are going to spread, and that we can expect malaria and encephalitis epidemics. But scientific papers by Prof. Sarah Randolph of Oxford University show that temperature changes do not correlate well with changes in the distribution or frequency of these diseases; warming has not broadened their distribution and is highly unlikely to do so in the future, global warming or not.
The key point here is that living things respond to many factors in addition to temperature and rainfall. In most cases, however, climate-modeling-based forecasts look primarily at temperature alone, or temperature and precipitation only. You might ask, "Isn't this enough to forecast changes in the distribution of species?" Ask a mockingbird. The New York Times recently published an answer to a query about why mockingbirds were becoming common in Manhattan. The expert answer was: food -- an exotic plant species that mockingbirds like to eat had spread to New York City. It was this, not temperature or rainfall, the expert said, that caused the change in mockingbird geography.
You might think I must be one of those know-nothing naysayers who believes global warming is a liberal plot. On the contrary, I am a biologist and ecologist who has worked on global warming, and been concerned about its effects, since 1968. I've developed the computer model of forest growth that has been used widely to forecast possible effects of global warming on life -- I've used the model for that purpose myself, and to forecast likely effects on specific endangered species.
I'm not a naysayer. I'm a scientist who believes in the scientific method and in what facts tell us. I have worked for 40 years to try to improve our enviro ...
This document provides an overview of climate change and global warming for the American public. It explains that climate is measured over centuries rather than days or years, and that human activity is largely responsible for unprecedented warming. Even a few degrees of temperature rise could have major negative consequences like more frequent heat waves, droughts, wildfires, spread of diseases, violent storms, and rising sea levels that inundate coastal areas. The document discusses debates around these issues and seeks to provide factual information to address public confusion around the science of climate change.
The environmental damage our factories, cars, farms and lifestyles create is well known. But what happens when the environmental damage takes on a planetary scale, threatening human health and civilization?
This document provides an overview of the concept of sustainability through examining the Biosphere II experiment and discussing four dimensions of sustainability: human survival, biodiversity, equity, and life quality. The Biosphere II experiment showed that creating a self-sustaining closed ecosystem is extremely complex and prone to unforeseen issues. Regarding human survival, while humans are unlikely to go extinct, environmental damage could kill many individuals and devastate cultures. Biodiversity is also threatened by human activity. Achieving true sustainability requires consideration of all living creatures as well as equity and quality of life.
This document is a 16,469 word MSc thesis by Heather Alberro from 2015 that examines challenges posed by contemporary capitalism and explores two social movements - The Venus Project and Transition Towns Network - as responses. It provides historical context on criticisms of capitalism dating back to the 19th century and analyzes modern issues like climate change, inequality, and environmental degradation. The thesis argues that fundamental reconstruction of social organization is needed for long-term sustainability and happiness.
The document discusses the rise of apocalyptic visions and narratives around environmental crises like climate change. It argues that discussions have shifted from alarm to acceptance of planetary deterioration as environmental problems become normalized. It also critiques how apocalyptic thinking can foreclose alternative futures and be appropriated by authoritarian, xenophobic, and misanthropic political agendas that promise salvation by maintaining the status quo.
Western culture lives in fear of wild nature, both external and internal, writes ecotherapist Mary-Jayne Rust. How can we find a way of working with nature in this consumerist age?
Global Warming DelusionsBy DANIEL B. BOTKINGlobal warming does.docxwhittemorelucilla
Global Warming Delusions
By DANIEL B. BOTKIN
Global warming doesn't matter except to the extent that it will affect life -- ours and that of all living things on Earth. And contrary to the latest news, the evidence that global warming will have serious effects on life is thin. Most evidence suggests the contrary.
Kilimanjaro's shrinking ice cap is not directly related to global warming.
Case in point: This year's United Nations report on climate change and other documents say that 20%-30% of plant and animal species will be threatened with extinction in this century due to global warming -- a truly terrifying thought. Yet, during the past 2.5 million years, a period that scientists now know experienced climatic changes as rapid and as warm as modern climatological models suggest will happen to us, almost none of the millions of species on Earth went extinct. The exceptions were about 20 species of large mammals (the famous megafauna of the last ice age -- saber-tooth tigers, hairy mammoths and the like), which went extinct about 10,000 to 5,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, and many dominant trees and shrubs of northwestern Europe. But elsewhere, including North America, few plant species went extinct, and few mammals.
We're also warned that tropical diseases are going to spread, and that we can expect malaria and encephalitis epidemics. But scientific papers by Prof. Sarah Randolph of Oxford University show that temperature changes do not correlate well with changes in the distribution or frequency of these diseases; warming has not broadened their distribution and is highly unlikely to do so in the future, global warming or not.
The key point here is that living things respond to many factors in addition to temperature and rainfall. In most cases, however, climate-modeling-based forecasts look primarily at temperature alone, or temperature and precipitation only. You might ask, "Isn't this enough to forecast changes in the distribution of species?" Ask a mockingbird. The New York Times recently published an answer to a query about why mockingbirds were becoming common in Manhattan. The expert answer was: food -- an exotic plant species that mockingbirds like to eat had spread to New York City. It was this, not temperature or rainfall, the expert said, that caused the change in mockingbird geography.
You might think I must be one of those know-nothing naysayers who believes global warming is a liberal plot. On the contrary, I am a biologist and ecologist who has worked on global warming, and been concerned about its effects, since 1968. I've developed the computer model of forest growth that has been used widely to forecast possible effects of global warming on life -- I've used the model for that purpose myself, and to forecast likely effects on specific endangered species.
I'm not a naysayer. I'm a scientist who believes in the scientific method and in what facts tell us. I have worked for 40 years to try to improve our enviro ...
This document provides an overview of climate change and global warming for the American public. It explains that climate is measured over centuries rather than days or years, and that human activity is largely responsible for unprecedented warming. Even a few degrees of temperature rise could have major negative consequences like more frequent heat waves, droughts, wildfires, spread of diseases, violent storms, and rising sea levels that inundate coastal areas. The document discusses debates around these issues and seeks to provide factual information to address public confusion around the science of climate change.
The environmental damage our factories, cars, farms and lifestyles create is well known. But what happens when the environmental damage takes on a planetary scale, threatening human health and civilization?
This document provides an overview of the concept of sustainability through examining the Biosphere II experiment and discussing four dimensions of sustainability: human survival, biodiversity, equity, and life quality. The Biosphere II experiment showed that creating a self-sustaining closed ecosystem is extremely complex and prone to unforeseen issues. Regarding human survival, while humans are unlikely to go extinct, environmental damage could kill many individuals and devastate cultures. Biodiversity is also threatened by human activity. Achieving true sustainability requires consideration of all living creatures as well as equity and quality of life.
This document provides an overview of the concept of sustainability through examining the Biosphere II experiment and discussing four dimensions of sustainability: human survival, biodiversity, equity, and life quality. The Biosphere II experiment showed that creating a self-sustaining closed ecosystem is extremely complex and prone to unforeseen issues. Regarding human survival, while humans are unlikely to go extinct, environmental damage could kill many individuals and devastate cultures. Biodiversity is also threatened by human activity. Achieving true sustainability requires consideration of all living creatures as well as ensuring equity and a decent quality of life.
This document contains a collection of quotes, tweets, and snippets of text on a variety of topics related to climate change communication, science, and society. Some key ideas discussed include the need to manage the atmosphere well, the influence of media on science reporting, focusing on agreement around climate policy rather than disagreement, and paying attention to response diversity in ecosystem and social management. The document reflects on challenges and opportunities in communicating climate science to different audiences.
The document discusses the relationship between humans and the environment. It defines environmental science as the study of Earth's environments and how human activities impact them. It notes that all life influences the global environment through processes like consuming resources and polluting. Environmental changes can impact human health, so understanding these connections is important.
Extinction marks the evolutionary death of a species. Observing the fates of many species ancient and recent, it appears to be Nature’s mechanism of periodically clearing out the outdated to make room for the fit. But is extinction necessarily inevitable for every species? More specifically, are humans destined to meet an unavoidable end? A pandemic will kill off all humans.
In the past, humans have indeed fallen victim to viruses. Perhaps the best-known case was the bubonic plague that killed up to one third of the European population in the mid-14th century . While vaccines have been developed for the plague and some other infectious diseases, new viral strains are constantly emerging — a process that maintains the possibility of a pandemic-facilitated human extinction.
Speech On Save The Earth
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The document discusses social-ecology and sustainable prosperity. It outlines the acceleration of human domination on Earth and increasing ecological crises. It argues that ecological crises have social causes related to unsustainable inequalities, and the solution is to promote more democracy. Inequality increases environmental degradation by allowing those with power and wealth to impose costs on others. The key is to address the social dimensions of ecological issues through principles of justice and governance of common resources.
Xu 1Xu 7The Sixth ExtinctionIn the book, The Sixt.docxericbrooks84875
Xu 1
Xu 7
The Sixth Extinction
In the book, The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert challenges the general unawareness of historic disbelief in mass extinction that has been talked about prior to the late 1700s, a period which the scientific communities failed to reason, let alone envision living in a planet with a powerful force capable of wiping out life in a massive scale. According to her, the unbelief fosters ideologies that no natural force can be powerful enough to trigger the extinction of species on a massive scale because of the threats that human post on Earth to the species. Therefore, she uses scientific research references to argue that the behavior of human species is disrupting the balanced and interconnected Earth's systems to the possibility of causing extinction not only of non-human species but to humans as well. Such behavior includes burning fossil fuels. Some of the significant areas likely to cause mass extinction due to unprecedented human behavior are the global atmosphere, the heat absorption by the sea, the water cycle, and the acidity of the ocean, effects on soil moisture and the extension of drought conditions.
The Sixth Extinction presumes that unless checked, there is eminent destruction of plant life by pests and unmanageable heat stress due to problems in heat regulation, among other related challenges. To be precise, Kolbert makes it clear that in the current century, manmade activities will lead to the elimination of up to 50% of species that currently live in the earth. In explicating the argument that Kolbert puts across in her book, The Sixth Extinction, this paper seeks to examine the organization of the chapters, as well as, how the information in these chapters explains the disruption of the Earth’s system, as a threat to creatures that live in sea and land. This is done when noting any strengths and weaknesses in the argument to determine the credibility of the stance that Kolbert takes in her book.
The book is generally arranged into 13 chapters. The chapters are topically denoted and begin with the first chapter laying ground for her belief in the possibility of mass extinction. The subsequent chapters give historical as well as scientific backing of her conviction. These include The Mastodon’s Molars in chapter two; The Original Penguin; The Luck of the Ammonites; and Welcome to the Anthropocene in chapters three to five respectively. The chapters following these backup chapters are used by the author to point at apparent areas directly or indirectly affected by human behavior threatening extinction. These include the sea (chapter six and seven), and land (chapters eight to twelve).
In the concluding chapter 13 (The Things with Feathers), focus is on the efforts taken to facilitation promotion of conservation and preservation of species on land and sea. However, she ends with a rather definite fact that whichever the actions taken by humanity, the evolutionary pathways are fully drawn on which sp.
Global Ecology and Conservation 24 (2020) e01232Contents lisdessiechisomjj4
This document summarizes relevant ecological and social principles related to human population growth and its impacts. Nine ecological principles indicate that unlimited population growth is unsustainable on a finite planet and will lead to decreasing resources and increasing human impacts. Nine social behaviors that could help address these impacts include recognizing the need for both individual and collective well-being, maintaining group memberships, respecting diverse views, and engaging in discussions focused on science-based evidence rather than moral or aesthetic arguments. The document predicts that if current population and resource use trends continue unaddressed, human civilization will likely experience problems or even demise.
Applied Eugenics. The basics and foundations of what Eugenics is. For those who have no idea of what Eugenics are and how they came about. Gloucester, Virginia Links and News website. Visit us for incredible content.
The document discusses the causes and impacts of species extinction. It states that habitat loss, pollution, climate change, and human activities like hunting are major drivers of extinction. When species go extinct, it can have catastrophic effects by disrupting food chains and ecosystems. While some extinction is natural, the current rate is estimated to be 1000-10,000 times higher than the background rate due to human factors. Conserving habitats, reducing pollution and mitigating climate change are important to prevent further extinctions.
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Arguing For System Change In The Anthropocene A Review EssayJennifer Holmes
The document reviews three books that examine the links between global capitalism and climate change in the context of the proposed Anthropocene geological epoch. The books argue that capitalism and its pursuit of endless growth have caused climate change by increasing extraction and consumption of fossil fuels. While endorsing urgent climate action, the books seek to understand how political and economic systems have driven environmental degradation in order to enact meaningful systemic change.
Human ecology is an interdisciplinary field that studies the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The postulate of human ecology states that on a limited area with limited resources, only a limited number of people with a certain behavior and culture can live to a certain standard while maintaining environmental quality. Overpopulation puts pressure on resources and can lead to issues like conflict over scarce resources, global migration, climate change, threats to political stability, and may even cause industrial civilization to collapse irreversibly. Recognizing the interdependence between humans and the environment, solutions need to be found through cooperation and changing perspectives on sustainability.
The Corona Pause Applies to Only One Species – Homo Sapien.pdfDeabak
This document is the June 2020 issue of the Voice of Environment Newsletter. It contains an article titled "The Corona Pause Applies to Only One Species – Homo Sapien". The article discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a pause in human activities but no other species. It notes that while viruses have caused past pandemics, the current pandemic only impacts humans. The article argues that humans must learn to live more sustainably and frugally to coexist with viruses in the future.
Assignment 1 Social Impact of Population Growth.docxtarifarmarie
Assignment 1: Social Impact of Population Growth
The United Nations has hired you to be a consultant on global issues. One of the
challenges is assessing the impact of population growth. There is no question that the
world population will grow dramatically in the next decade throughout many countries
of the world. The members of the UN are working to understand the impact that
population growth has on society, specifically in developing countries. Your first project
with the UN is to develop a whitepaper on three issues related to the population growth
faced by one of these countries. Read the Case Study and provide an assessment
based on the questions below.
(For a brief list of resources for this assignment, please see the end of the course guide.)
Overview
Our obsession with continual economic growth deters us from studying the role that
an expanding population plays in global warming.[1]
About 3 billion years ago, the Earth suffered through a mass extinction caused by
catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia and wildfires that covered the entire planet.
Since then, four more extinctions have eradicated up to 80% of all species each time.
The world’s climatologists and scientists overwhelmingly agree that we are now on the
verge of a sixth mass event that, over the next few tens of thousands of years, will
wipe out nearly all living species on Earth — including humankind.
This is not the stuff of science fiction or speculation, but rather the studied view of the
people who are most qualified to make this kind of assessment. As anthropologist
Richard Leaky, author of The Sixth Extinction,[2] wrote in 1995, “Homo sapiens might
not only be the agent of the sixth extinction, but also risks being one of its victims.”
This brings us to two issues worthy of reflection:
Does the rate at which people are reproducing need to be controlled to save the
environment?
To what extent does human population growth impact global warming... and what
can be done about it?[3]
The answer to the first is quite simply “yes,” but the solution to the second is more
problematic. The damage humans are doing to their climate is ruining the atmosphere
surrounding their planet. At the rate this damage is increasing, at some point in the
future there will be no atmosphere left to protect life on Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet
radiation. Compared to other planets in our solar system, Earth has mild temperatures,
thanks largely to the protective gases of its atmosphere.
However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (around 1775), those gases have become stuck in the atmosphere, causing heat radiating from the sun to reflect back to Earth (rather than exiting to space). The result is that oceans have become warmer and glaciers are melting, including parts of Antarctica. If we think of that continent as the stopper in a bottle, its melting away will release all the water it is holding back. This will raise sea levels to uncontrollable.
How has it come to this? Climate Change and The Future of Planet EarthKaren McChrystal
By now, most people are aware that climate change presents a dire threat to human civilization. But they don’t understand just how dire. International organizations and mainstream media continue to say that we have about ten years, maybe more, to start doing something about it. In my view, it’s already past the midnight hour to start doing something.
This paper includes top-level summary statements regarding the primary factors driving likely near-future societal chaos. Also
included are a number of citations from experts and scientists in the fields of climate change, economics, and sustainability. For the most part, citations are not paraphrased, as the subject is complex and doesn’t lend itself to simplification.
My studies of these topics, on and off for two decades, have led me to the view that civilization as we have known it cannot long continue. The purpose of this paper is not to add to the growing list of alarming climate-related disasters and those that loom, but rather to help people better understand how we got here, and why the civilization we have known cannot go on for very much longer. Then we can hopefully apply what we’ve learned, as wisdom, to better prepare for the oncoming climate chaos.
And we can plant the seeds of a successor civilization, starting
with sustainable, resilient communities which can be enfolded into the future successor civilization.
(APA 6th Edition Formatting and Style Guide)
Office of Graduate Studies
Alcorn State University
Engaging Possibilities, Pursuing Excellence
REVISED May 23, 2018
THESIS MANUAL
Graduates
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Graduate students, under faculty guidance, are expected to produce scholarly work either in the
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The purpose of this manual is to assist the graduate student and the graduate thesis advisory
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approved manual by the Graduate Division.
Formatting questions not addressed in these guidelines should be directed to the Graduate School
staff in the Walter Washington Administration Building, Suite 519 or by phone at
601.877.6122 or via email: [email protected] or in person.
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(Revised Spring 2018)
mailto:[email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 3
SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF THESIS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ......................... 4
1. Early Topic Selection ......................................................................................................... 4
2. Selection of Thesis Chair ......................................................................................................... 4
3. Selection of Thesis Committee Members .......................................................................... 4
4. Appointment of Thesis Advisory Committee Form .......................................................... 4
5. Invitation to Prospective Committee Members ................................................................. 5
6. TAC Committee Selection ................................................................................................. 5
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PARTS OF THE MANUSCRIPT: PRELIMINARY PAGES ..................................................... 8
1. Title Page .
(a) Thrasymachus’ (the sophist’s) definition of Justice or Right o.docxAASTHA76
(a) Thrasymachus’ (the sophist’s) definition of Justice or Right or Right Doing/Living is “The Interest of the Stronger (Might makes Right).” How does Socrates refute this definition? (cite just
one
of his arguments) [cf:
The Republic
, 30-40, Unit 1 Lecture Video]
(b) According to Socrates, what is the true definition of Justice or Right? [cf:
The Republic
, 141-42, Unit 2 Lecture Video]
(c) And why therefore is the Just life far preferable to the Unjust life (142-43)?
(a) The Allegory of the CAVE (the main metaphor of western philosophy) is an illustration of the Divided LINE.
Characterize
the Two Worlds, and the move/ascent from one to the other (exiting the CAVE, crossing the Divided LINE)—which is alone the true meaning of Education and the only way to become Just, Right, and Immortal. [cf:
The Republic
, 227-232, Unit 3 Lecture Video]
(b) How do the philosophical Studies of
Arithmetic
(number) and
Dialectic
take you above the Divided Line and out of the changing sense-world of illusion (the CAVE) into Reality and make you use your Reason (pure thought) instead of your senses? [cf:
The Republic
, 235-37, 240-42, 250-55. Unit 4 Lecture Video (transcript)]
Give a summary of the
Proof of the Force
(Why there is the “Universe,” “Man,” “God,” “History,” etc)? Start with, “Can there be
nothing
?” [cf: TJH 78-95, Unit 2 Lecture Video]
NIETZSCHE is the crucial Jedi philosopher who provides the “bridge” between negative and positive Postmodernity by focusing on a certain “Problem” and the “
Solution
” to it.
(a) Discuss
2
of the following items (
1
pertaining to the Problem,
1
pertaining to the
.
(Glossary of Telemedicine and eHealth)· Teleconsultation Cons.docxAASTHA76
(Glossary of Telemedicine and eHealth)
· Teleconsultation: Consultation between a provider and specialist at distance using either store and forward telemedicine or real time videoconferencing.
· Telehealth and Telemedicine: Telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve patients' health status. Closely associated with telemedicine is the term "telehealth," which is often used to encompass a broader definition of remote healthcare that does not always involve clinical services. Videoconferencing, transmission of still images, e-health including patient portals, remote monitoring of vital signs, continuing medical education and nursing call centers are all considered part of telemedicine and telehealth. Telemedicine is not a separate medical specialty. Products and services related to telemedicine are often part of a larger investment by health care institutions in either information technology or the delivery of clinical care. Even in the reimbursement fee structure, there is usually no distinction made between services provided on site and those provided through telemedicine and often no separate coding required for billing of remote services. Telemedicine encompasses different types of programs and services provided for the patient. Each component involves different providers and consumers.
· TeleICU: TeleICU is a collaborative, interprofessional model focusing on the care of critically ill patients using telehealth technologies.
· Telemonitoring: The process of using audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies to monitor the health status of a patient from a distance.
· Telemonitoring: The process of using audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies to monitor the health status of a patient from a distance.
· Clinical Decision Support System (CCDS): Systems (usually electronically based and interactive) that provide clinicians, staff, patients, and other individuals with knowledge and person-specific information, intelligently filtered and presented at appropriate times, to enhance health and health care. (http://healthit.ahrq.gov/images/jun09cdsreview/09_0069_ef.html)
· e-Prescribing: The electronic generation, transmission and filling of a medical prescription, as opposed to traditional paper and faxed prescriptions. E-prescribing allows for qualified healthcare personnel to transmit a new prescription or renewal authorization to a community or mail-order pharmacy.
· Home Health Care and Remote Monitoring Systems: Care provided to individuals and families in their place of residence for promoting, maintaining, or restoring health or for minimizing the effects of disability and illness, including terminal illness. In the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and Medicare claims and enrollment data, home health care refers to home visits by professionals including nu.
(Assmt 1; Week 3 paper) Using ecree Doing the paper and s.docxAASTHA76
The document provides instructions for students on completing Assignment 1 for an online history course. It explains how to access and submit the assignment through the ecree online platform. Students are instructed to write a 2-page paper in 4 parts addressing how diversity was dealt with in America from 1865 to the 1920s. The document provides a sample paper format and emphasizes including an introduction with thesis, 3 examples supporting the thesis, consideration of an opposing view, and conclusion relating the topic to modern times. Sources must be cited within the paper and listed at the end using the SWS format.
(Image retrieved at httpswww.google.comsearchhl=en&biw=122.docxAASTHA76
(Image retrieved at https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1229&bih=568&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=fmYIW9W3G6jH5gLn7IHYAQ&q=analysis&oq=analysis&gs_l=img.3..0i67k1l2j0l5j0i67k1l2j0.967865.968569.0.969181.7.4.0.0.0.0.457.682.1j1j4-1.3.0....0...1c.1.64.img..5.2.622...0i7i30k1.0.rL9KcsvXM1U#imgrc=LU1vXlB6e2doDM: / )
ESOL 052 (Essay #__)
Steps:
1. Discuss the readings, videos, and photographs in the Truth and Lies module on Bb.
2. Select a significant/controversial photograph to analyze. (The photograph does not have to be from Bb.)
3. Choose one of the following essay questions:
a. What truth does this photograph reveal?
b. What lie does this photograph promote?
c. Why/How did people deliberately misuse this photograph and distort its true meaning?
d. Why was this photograph misinterpreted by so many people?
e. Why do so many people have different reactions to this photograph?
f. ___________________________________________________________________________?
(Students may create their own visual analysis essay question as long as it is pre-approved by the instructor.)
4. Use the OPTIC chart to brainstorm and take notes on your photograph.
5. Use a pre-writing strategy (outline, graphic organizer, etc.) to organize your ideas.
6. Using correct MLA format, write a 3-5 page essay.
7. Type a Works Cited page. (Use citationmachine.net, easybib.com, etc. to format your info.)
8. Peer and self-edit during the writing process (Bb Wiki, in/outside class).
9. Get feedback from your peers and an instructor during the writing process.
(Note: Students who visit the Writing Center and show me proof get 2 additional days to work on the assignment.)
10. Proofread/edit/revise during the writing process.
11. Put your pre-writing, essay, and Works Cited page in 1 Word document and upload it on Bb by midnight on ______. (If a student submits an essay without pre-writing or without a Works Cited page, he/she will receive a zero. If a student submits an assignment late, he/she will receive a zero. If a student plagiarizes, he/she will receive a zero.)
Purpose: Students will be able to use their reading, writing, critical thinking, and research skills to conduct a visual analysis that explores the theme of Truth and Lies.
Tone: The tone of this assignment should be formal and academic.
Language: The diction and syntax of this assignment should be formal and academic. Students should not use second person pronouns (you/your), contractions, abbreviations, slang, or any type of casual language. Students should refer to the diction and syntax guidelines in the writing packet.
Audience: The audience of this assignment is the student’s peers and instructor.
Format: MLA style (double spaced, 1 in. margins, Times New Roman 12 font, pagination, heading, title, tab for each paragraph, in-text citations, Works Cited page, hanging indents, etc.)
Requirements:
In order for a student to earn a minimum passing grade of 70% on this assignment, h.
(Dis) Placing Culture and Cultural Space Chapter 4.docxAASTHA76
(Dis) Placing Culture and Cultural Space
Chapter 4
+
Chapter Objectives
Describe the relationships among culture, place, cultural space, and identity in the context of globalization.
Explain how people use communicative practices to construct, maintain, negotiate, and hybridize cultural spaces.
Explain how cultures are simultaneously placed and displaced in the global context leading to segregated, contested and hybrid cultural spaces.
Describe the practice of bifocal vision to highlight the linkages between “here” and “there” as well as the connections between present and past.
+
Introduction
Explore the cultural and intercultural communication dimensions of place, space and location. We will examine:
The dynamic process of placing and displacing cultural space in the context of globalization.
How people use communicative practices to construct, maintain, negotiate, and hybridize cultural spaces
How segregated, contested, and hybrid cultural spaces are both shaped by the legacy of colonialism and the context of globalization.
How Hip hop culture illustrates the cultural and intercultural dimensions of place, space, and location in the context of globalization
+
Placing Culture and Cultural Space
Culture, by definition, is rooted in place with a reciprocal relationship between people and place
Culture:
“Place tilled” in Middle English
Colere : “to inhabit, care for, till, worship” in Latin
In the context of globalization, what is the relationship between culture and place?
Culture is both placed and displaced
+
Cultural Space
The communicative practices that construct meanings in, through and about particular places
Cultural space shapes verbal and nonverbal communicative practices
i.e. Classrooms, dance club, library.
Cultural spaces are constructed through the communicative practices developed and lived by people in particular places
Communicative practices include:
The languages, accents, slang, dress, artifacts, architectural design, the behaviors and patterns of interaction, the stories, the discourses and histories
How is the cultural space of your home, neighborhood, city, and state constructed through communicative practices?
+
Place, Cultural Space and Identity
Place, Culture, Identity and Difference
What’s the relationship between place and identity?
Avowed identity:
The way we see, label and make meaning about ourselves and
Ascribed identity:
The way others view, name and describe us and our group
Examples of how avowed and ascribed identities may conflict?
How is place related to standpoint and power?
Locations of enunciation:
Sites or positions from which to speak.
A platform from which to voice a perspective and be heard and/or silenced.
+
Displacing Culture and Cultural Space
(Dis) placed culture and cultural space:
A notion that captures the complex, contradictory and contested nature of cultural space and the relationship between culture and place that has emerged in the context o.
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The United Nations has hired you to be a consultant on global issues. One of the
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Overview
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Similar to !! NavigationNavigationMONTHLY REVIEWAN INDEPENDENT SOCI.docx (16)
(APA 6th Edition Formatting and Style Guide)
Office of Graduate Studies
Alcorn State University
Engaging Possibilities, Pursuing Excellence
REVISED May 23, 2018
THESIS MANUAL
Graduates
2
COPYRIGHT PRIVILEGES
BELONG TO
OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY, LORMAN, MS
Reproduction for distribution of this THESIS MANUAL requires the written permission of the
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs or Graduate Studies Administrator.
FOREWORD
Alcorn State University Office of Graduate Studies requires that all students comply with the
specifications given in this document in the publication of a thesis or non-thesis research project.
Graduate students, under faculty guidance, are expected to produce scholarly work either in the
form of a thesis or a scholarly research project.
The thesis (master or specialist) should document the student's research study and maintain a
degree of intensity.
The purpose of this manual is to assist the graduate student and the graduate thesis advisory
committee in each department with the instructions contained herein. This is the official
approved manual by the Graduate Division.
Formatting questions not addressed in these guidelines should be directed to the Graduate School
staff in the Walter Washington Administration Building, Suite 519 or by phone at
601.877.6122 or via email: [email protected] or in person.
The Graduate Studies
Thesis Advisory Committee
(Revised Spring 2018)
mailto:[email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 3
SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF THESIS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ......................... 4
1. Early Topic Selection ......................................................................................................... 4
2. Selection of Thesis Chair ......................................................................................................... 4
3. Selection of Thesis Committee Members .......................................................................... 4
4. Appointment of Thesis Advisory Committee Form .......................................................... 4
5. Invitation to Prospective Committee Members ................................................................. 5
6. TAC Committee Selection ................................................................................................. 5
CHOICE OF SUBJECT .................................................................................................................... 5
PROPOSAL DEFENSE AND SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL TO IRB ..................................... 5
PARTS OF THE MANUSCRIPT: PRELIMINARY PAGES ..................................................... 8
1. Title Page .
(a) Thrasymachus’ (the sophist’s) definition of Justice or Right o.docxAASTHA76
(a) Thrasymachus’ (the sophist’s) definition of Justice or Right or Right Doing/Living is “The Interest of the Stronger (Might makes Right).” How does Socrates refute this definition? (cite just
one
of his arguments) [cf:
The Republic
, 30-40, Unit 1 Lecture Video]
(b) According to Socrates, what is the true definition of Justice or Right? [cf:
The Republic
, 141-42, Unit 2 Lecture Video]
(c) And why therefore is the Just life far preferable to the Unjust life (142-43)?
(a) The Allegory of the CAVE (the main metaphor of western philosophy) is an illustration of the Divided LINE.
Characterize
the Two Worlds, and the move/ascent from one to the other (exiting the CAVE, crossing the Divided LINE)—which is alone the true meaning of Education and the only way to become Just, Right, and Immortal. [cf:
The Republic
, 227-232, Unit 3 Lecture Video]
(b) How do the philosophical Studies of
Arithmetic
(number) and
Dialectic
take you above the Divided Line and out of the changing sense-world of illusion (the CAVE) into Reality and make you use your Reason (pure thought) instead of your senses? [cf:
The Republic
, 235-37, 240-42, 250-55. Unit 4 Lecture Video (transcript)]
Give a summary of the
Proof of the Force
(Why there is the “Universe,” “Man,” “God,” “History,” etc)? Start with, “Can there be
nothing
?” [cf: TJH 78-95, Unit 2 Lecture Video]
NIETZSCHE is the crucial Jedi philosopher who provides the “bridge” between negative and positive Postmodernity by focusing on a certain “Problem” and the “
Solution
” to it.
(a) Discuss
2
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1
pertaining to the Problem,
1
pertaining to the
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(Glossary of Telemedicine and eHealth)
· Teleconsultation: Consultation between a provider and specialist at distance using either store and forward telemedicine or real time videoconferencing.
· Telehealth and Telemedicine: Telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve patients' health status. Closely associated with telemedicine is the term "telehealth," which is often used to encompass a broader definition of remote healthcare that does not always involve clinical services. Videoconferencing, transmission of still images, e-health including patient portals, remote monitoring of vital signs, continuing medical education and nursing call centers are all considered part of telemedicine and telehealth. Telemedicine is not a separate medical specialty. Products and services related to telemedicine are often part of a larger investment by health care institutions in either information technology or the delivery of clinical care. Even in the reimbursement fee structure, there is usually no distinction made between services provided on site and those provided through telemedicine and often no separate coding required for billing of remote services. Telemedicine encompasses different types of programs and services provided for the patient. Each component involves different providers and consumers.
· TeleICU: TeleICU is a collaborative, interprofessional model focusing on the care of critically ill patients using telehealth technologies.
· Telemonitoring: The process of using audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies to monitor the health status of a patient from a distance.
· Telemonitoring: The process of using audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies to monitor the health status of a patient from a distance.
· Clinical Decision Support System (CCDS): Systems (usually electronically based and interactive) that provide clinicians, staff, patients, and other individuals with knowledge and person-specific information, intelligently filtered and presented at appropriate times, to enhance health and health care. (http://healthit.ahrq.gov/images/jun09cdsreview/09_0069_ef.html)
· e-Prescribing: The electronic generation, transmission and filling of a medical prescription, as opposed to traditional paper and faxed prescriptions. E-prescribing allows for qualified healthcare personnel to transmit a new prescription or renewal authorization to a community or mail-order pharmacy.
· Home Health Care and Remote Monitoring Systems: Care provided to individuals and families in their place of residence for promoting, maintaining, or restoring health or for minimizing the effects of disability and illness, including terminal illness. In the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and Medicare claims and enrollment data, home health care refers to home visits by professionals including nu.
(Assmt 1; Week 3 paper) Using ecree Doing the paper and s.docxAASTHA76
The document provides instructions for students on completing Assignment 1 for an online history course. It explains how to access and submit the assignment through the ecree online platform. Students are instructed to write a 2-page paper in 4 parts addressing how diversity was dealt with in America from 1865 to the 1920s. The document provides a sample paper format and emphasizes including an introduction with thesis, 3 examples supporting the thesis, consideration of an opposing view, and conclusion relating the topic to modern times. Sources must be cited within the paper and listed at the end using the SWS format.
(Image retrieved at httpswww.google.comsearchhl=en&biw=122.docxAASTHA76
(Image retrieved at https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1229&bih=568&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=fmYIW9W3G6jH5gLn7IHYAQ&q=analysis&oq=analysis&gs_l=img.3..0i67k1l2j0l5j0i67k1l2j0.967865.968569.0.969181.7.4.0.0.0.0.457.682.1j1j4-1.3.0....0...1c.1.64.img..5.2.622...0i7i30k1.0.rL9KcsvXM1U#imgrc=LU1vXlB6e2doDM: / )
ESOL 052 (Essay #__)
Steps:
1. Discuss the readings, videos, and photographs in the Truth and Lies module on Bb.
2. Select a significant/controversial photograph to analyze. (The photograph does not have to be from Bb.)
3. Choose one of the following essay questions:
a. What truth does this photograph reveal?
b. What lie does this photograph promote?
c. Why/How did people deliberately misuse this photograph and distort its true meaning?
d. Why was this photograph misinterpreted by so many people?
e. Why do so many people have different reactions to this photograph?
f. ___________________________________________________________________________?
(Students may create their own visual analysis essay question as long as it is pre-approved by the instructor.)
4. Use the OPTIC chart to brainstorm and take notes on your photograph.
5. Use a pre-writing strategy (outline, graphic organizer, etc.) to organize your ideas.
6. Using correct MLA format, write a 3-5 page essay.
7. Type a Works Cited page. (Use citationmachine.net, easybib.com, etc. to format your info.)
8. Peer and self-edit during the writing process (Bb Wiki, in/outside class).
9. Get feedback from your peers and an instructor during the writing process.
(Note: Students who visit the Writing Center and show me proof get 2 additional days to work on the assignment.)
10. Proofread/edit/revise during the writing process.
11. Put your pre-writing, essay, and Works Cited page in 1 Word document and upload it on Bb by midnight on ______. (If a student submits an essay without pre-writing or without a Works Cited page, he/she will receive a zero. If a student submits an assignment late, he/she will receive a zero. If a student plagiarizes, he/she will receive a zero.)
Purpose: Students will be able to use their reading, writing, critical thinking, and research skills to conduct a visual analysis that explores the theme of Truth and Lies.
Tone: The tone of this assignment should be formal and academic.
Language: The diction and syntax of this assignment should be formal and academic. Students should not use second person pronouns (you/your), contractions, abbreviations, slang, or any type of casual language. Students should refer to the diction and syntax guidelines in the writing packet.
Audience: The audience of this assignment is the student’s peers and instructor.
Format: MLA style (double spaced, 1 in. margins, Times New Roman 12 font, pagination, heading, title, tab for each paragraph, in-text citations, Works Cited page, hanging indents, etc.)
Requirements:
In order for a student to earn a minimum passing grade of 70% on this assignment, h.
(Dis) Placing Culture and Cultural Space Chapter 4.docxAASTHA76
(Dis) Placing Culture and Cultural Space
Chapter 4
+
Chapter Objectives
Describe the relationships among culture, place, cultural space, and identity in the context of globalization.
Explain how people use communicative practices to construct, maintain, negotiate, and hybridize cultural spaces.
Explain how cultures are simultaneously placed and displaced in the global context leading to segregated, contested and hybrid cultural spaces.
Describe the practice of bifocal vision to highlight the linkages between “here” and “there” as well as the connections between present and past.
+
Introduction
Explore the cultural and intercultural communication dimensions of place, space and location. We will examine:
The dynamic process of placing and displacing cultural space in the context of globalization.
How people use communicative practices to construct, maintain, negotiate, and hybridize cultural spaces
How segregated, contested, and hybrid cultural spaces are both shaped by the legacy of colonialism and the context of globalization.
How Hip hop culture illustrates the cultural and intercultural dimensions of place, space, and location in the context of globalization
+
Placing Culture and Cultural Space
Culture, by definition, is rooted in place with a reciprocal relationship between people and place
Culture:
“Place tilled” in Middle English
Colere : “to inhabit, care for, till, worship” in Latin
In the context of globalization, what is the relationship between culture and place?
Culture is both placed and displaced
+
Cultural Space
The communicative practices that construct meanings in, through and about particular places
Cultural space shapes verbal and nonverbal communicative practices
i.e. Classrooms, dance club, library.
Cultural spaces are constructed through the communicative practices developed and lived by people in particular places
Communicative practices include:
The languages, accents, slang, dress, artifacts, architectural design, the behaviors and patterns of interaction, the stories, the discourses and histories
How is the cultural space of your home, neighborhood, city, and state constructed through communicative practices?
+
Place, Cultural Space and Identity
Place, Culture, Identity and Difference
What’s the relationship between place and identity?
Avowed identity:
The way we see, label and make meaning about ourselves and
Ascribed identity:
The way others view, name and describe us and our group
Examples of how avowed and ascribed identities may conflict?
How is place related to standpoint and power?
Locations of enunciation:
Sites or positions from which to speak.
A platform from which to voice a perspective and be heard and/or silenced.
+
Displacing Culture and Cultural Space
(Dis) placed culture and cultural space:
A notion that captures the complex, contradictory and contested nature of cultural space and the relationship between culture and place that has emerged in the context o.
(1) Define the time value of money. Do you believe that the ave.docxAASTHA76
(1) Define the time value of money. Do you believe that the average person considers the time value of money when they make investment decisions? Please explain.
(2) Distinguish between ordinary annuities and annuities due. Also, distinguish between the future value of an annuity and the present value of an annuity.
.
(chapter taken from Learning Power)From Social Class and t.docxAASTHA76
This document summarizes Jean Anyon's observations of 5 elementary schools that served different socioeconomic classes. In working-class schools, classroom activities focused on rote memorization and following procedures without explanation of underlying concepts. Work involved copying steps and notes from the board. In contrast, more affluent schools emphasized conceptual learning, creativity, and preparing students for professional careers through activities like experiments and projects. Anyon concluded schools were preparing students for different roles in the economy and society based on their social class.
(Accessible at httpswww.hatchforgood.orgexplore102nonpro.docxAASTHA76
(Accessible at https://www.hatchforgood.org/explore/102/nonprofit-photography-ethics-and-approaches)
Nonprofit Photography: Ethics
and Approaches
Best practices and tips on ethics and approaches in
humanitarian photography for social impact.
The first moon landing. The Vietnamese ‘napalm girl’, running naked and in agony. The World
Trade Centers falling.
As we know, photography carries the power to inspire, educate, horrify and compel its viewers to
take action. Images evoke strong and often public emotions, as people frequently formulate their
opinions, judgments and behaviors in response to visual stimuli. Because of this, photography
can wield substantial control over public perception and discourse.
Moreover, photography in our digital age permits us to deliver complex information about
remote conditions which can be rapidly distributed and effortlessly processed by the viewer.
Recently, we’ve witnessed the profound impact of photography coupled with social media:
together, they have fueled political movements and brought down a corrupt government.
Photography can - and has - changed the course of history.
Ethical Considerations
Those who commission and create photography of marginalized populations to further an
organizations’ mission possess a tremendous responsibility. Careful ethical consideration should
be given to all aspects of the photography supply chain: its planning, creation, and distribution.
When planning a photography campaign, it is important to examine the motives for creating
particular images and their potential impact. Not only must a faithful, comprehensive visual
depiction of the subjects be created to avoid causing misconception, but more importantly, the
subjects’ dignity must be preserved. Words and images that elicit an emotional response by their
sheer shock value (e.g. starving, skeletal children covered in flies) are harmful because they
exploit the subjects’ condition in order to generate sympathy for increasing charitable donations
or support for a given cause. In addition to violating privacy and human rights, this so-called
'poverty porn’ is harmful to those it is trying to aid because it evokes the idea that the
marginalized are helpless and incapable of helping themselves, thereby cultivating a culture of
paternalism. Poverty porn is also detrimental because it is degrading, dishonoring and robs
people of their dignity. While it is important to illustrate the challenges of a population, one must
always strive to tell stories in a way that honors the subjects’ circumstances, and (ideally)
illustrates hope for their plight.
Legal issues
Legal issues are more clear cut when images are created or used in stable countries where legal
precedent for photography use has been established. Image use and creation becomes far more
murky and problematic in countries in which law and order is vague or even nonexistent.
Even though images created for no.
(a) The current ratio of a company is 61 and its acid-test ratio .docxAASTHA76
(a) The current ratio of a company is 6:1 and its acid-test ratio is 1:1. If the inventories and prepaid items amount to $445,500, what is the amount of current liabilities?
Current Liabilities
$
89100
(b) A company had an average inventory last year of $113,000 and its inventory turnover was 6. If sales volume and unit cost remain the same this year as last and inventory turnover is 7 this year, what will average inventory have to be during the current year? (Round answer to 0 decimal places, e.g. 125.)
Average Inventory
$
96857
(c) A company has current assets of $88,800 (of which $35,960 is inventory and prepaid items) and current liabilities of $35,960. What is the current ratio? What is the acid-test ratio? If the company borrows $12,970 cash from a bank on a 120-day loan, what will its current ratio be? What will the acid-test ratio be? (Round answers to 2 decimal places, e.g. 2.50.)
Current Ratio
2.47
:1
Acid Test Ratio
:1
New Current Ratio
:1
New Acid Test Ratio
:1
(d) A company has current assets of $586,700 and current liabilities of $200,100. The board of directors declares a cash dividend of $173,700. What is the current ratio after the declaration but before payment? What is the current ratio after the payment of the dividend? (Round answers to 2 decimal places, e.g. 2.50.)
Current ratio after the declaration but before payment
:1
Current ratio after the payment of the dividend
:1
The following data is given:
December 31,
2015
2014
Cash
$66,000
$52,000
Accounts receivable (net)
90,000
60,000
Inventories
90,000
105,000
Plant assets (net)
380,500
320,000
Accounts payable
54,500
41,500
Salaries and wages payable
11,500
5,000
Bonds payable
70,500
70,000
8% Preferred stock, $40 par
100,000
100,000
Common stock, $10 par
120,000
90,000
Paid-in capital in excess of par
80,000
70,000
Retained earnings
190,000
160,500
Net credit sales
930,000
Cost of goods sold
735,000
Net income
81,000
Compute the following ratios: (Round answers to 2 decimal places e.g. 15.25.)
(a)
Acid-test ratio at 12/31/15
: 1
(b)
Accounts receivable turnover in 2015
times
(c)
Inventory turnover in 2015
times
(d)
Profit margin on sales in 2015
%
(e)
Return on common stock equity in 2015
%
(f)
Book value per share of common stock at 12/31/15
$
Exercise 24-4
As loan analyst for Utrillo Bank, you have been presented the following information.
Toulouse Co.
Lautrec Co.
Assets
Cash
$113,900
$311,200
Receivables
227,200
302,700
Inventories
571,200
510,700
Total current assets
912,300
1,124,600
Other assets
506,000
619,800
Total assets
$1,418,300
$1,744,400
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Current liabilities
$291,300
$350,400
Long-term liabilities
390,800
506,000
Capital stock and retained earnings
736,200
888,000
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity
$1.
(1) How does quantum cryptography eliminate the problem of eaves.docxAASTHA76
Quantum cryptography eliminates eavesdropping by using the principles of quantum mechanics, where any interception of encrypted information can be detected. However, quantum cryptography has limitations in the distance over which it can be effectively implemented and requires specialized equipment. Developments in both theoretical and applied cryptography will be influenced by advances in computing power, communication technologies, user needs for security and privacy, and socioeconomic or geopolitical factors.
#transformation
10
Event
Trends
for 2019
10 Event Trends for 2019
C O P Y R I G H T
All rights reserved. No part of this report may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means whatsoever (including presentations, short
summaries, blog posts, printed magazines, use
of images in social media posts) without express
written permission from the author, except in the
case of brief quotations (50 words maximum and
for a maximum of 2 quotations) embodied in critical
articles and reviews, and with clear reference to
the original source, including a link to the original
source at https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/10-
event-trends/. Please refer all pertinent questions
to the publisher.
page 2
https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/10-event-trends/
https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/10-event-trends/
10 Event Trends for 2019
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION page 5
TRANSFORMATION 8
10. PASSIVE ENGAGEMENT 10
9. CONTENT DESIGN 13
8. SEATING MATTERS 16
7. JOMO - THE JOY OF MISSING OUT 19
6. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY 21
5. CAT SPONSORSHIP 23
4. SLOW TICKETING 25
3. READY TO BLOCKCHAIN 27
2. MARKETING BUDGETS SHIFTING MORE TO EVENTS 28
1. MORE THAN PLANNERS 30
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 31
CMP CREDITS 32
CREDITS AND THANKS 32
DISCLAIMER 32
page 3
INTERACTIVITY
AT THE HEART OF YOUR MEETINGS
Liven up your presentations!
EVENIUM
ConnexMe
San Francisco/Paris [email protected]
AD
https://eventmb.com/2PvIw1f
10 Event Trends for 2019
I am very glad to welcome you to the 8th edition of our annual
event trends. This is going to be a different one.
One element that made our event trends stand out from
the thousands of reports and articles on the topic is that we
don’t care about pleasing companies, pundits, suppliers, star
planners and the likes. Our only focus is you, the reader, to
help you navigate through very uncertain times.
This is why I decided to bring back this report, by far the most
popular in the industry, to its roots. 10 trends that will actually
materialize between now and November 2019, when we will
publish edition number nine.
I feel you have a lot going on, with your events I mean.
F&B, room blocks, sponsorship, marketing security, technology.
I think I failed you in previous editions. I think I gave you too
much. This report will be the most concise and strategic piece
of content you will need for next year.
If you don’t read anything else this year, it’s fine. As long as you
read the next few words.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION -
Julius Solaris
EventMB Editor
page 5
https://www.eventmanagerblog.com
10 Event Trends for 2019
How did I come up with these trends?
~ As part of this report, we reviewed 350 events. Some of the most successful
worldwide.
~ Last year we started a community with a year-long trend watch. That helped
us to constantly research new things happening in the industry.
~ We have reviewed north of 300 event technology solutions for our repor.
$10 now and $10 when complete Use resources from the required .docxAASTHA76
$10 now and $10 when complete
Use resources from the required readings or the GCU Library to create a 10‐15 slide digital presentation to be shown to your colleagues informing them of specific cultural norms and sociocultural influences affecting student learning at your school.
Choose a culture to research. State the country or countries of origin of your chosen culture and your reason for selecting it.
Include sociocultural influences on learning such as:
Religion
Dress
Cultural Norms
Food
Socialization
Gender Differences
Home Discipline
Education
Native Language
Include presenter’s notes, a title slide, in‐text citations, and a reference slide that contains three to five sources from the required readings or the GCU Library.
.
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
// Function: void parse(char *line, char **argv)
// Purpose : This function takes in a null terminated string pointed to by
// <line>. It also takes in an array of pointers to char <argv>.
// When the function returns, the string pointed to by the
// pointer <line> has ALL of its whitespace characters (space,
// tab, and newline) turned into null characters ('\0'). The
// array of pointers to chars will be modified so that the zeroth
// slot will point to the first non-null character in the string
// pointed to by <line>, the oneth slot will point to the second
// non-null character in the string pointed to by <line>, and so
// on. In other words, each subsequent pointer in argv will point
// to each subsequent "token" (characters separated by white space)
// IN the block of memory stored at the pointer <line>. Since all
// the white space is replaced by '\0', every one of these "tokens"
// pointed to by subsequent entires of argv will be a valid string
// The "last" entry in the argv array will be set to NULL. This
// will mark the end of the tokens in the string.
//
void parse(char *line, char **argv)
{
// We will assume that the input string is NULL terminated. If it
// is not, this code WILL break. The rewriting of whitespace characters
// and the updating of pointers in argv are interleaved. Basically
// we do a while loop that will go until we run out of characters in
// the string (the outer while loop that goes until '\0'). Inside
// that loop, we interleave between rewriting white space (space, tab,
// and newline) with nulls ('\0') AND just skipping over non-whitespace.
// Note that whenever we encounter a non-whitespace character, we record
// that address in the array of address at argv and increment it. When
// we run out of tokens in the string, we make the last entry in the array
// at argv NULL. This marks the end of pointers to tokens. Easy, right?
while (*line != '\0') // outer loop. keep going until the whole string is read
{ // keep moving forward the pointer into the input string until
// we encounter a non-whitespace character. While we're at it,
// turn all those whitespace characters we're seeing into null chars.
while (*line == ' ' || *line == '\t' || *line == '\n' || *line == '\r')
{ *line = '\0';
line++;
}
// If I got this far, I MUST be looking at a non-whitespace character,
// or, the beginning of a token. So, let's record the address of this
// beginning of token to the address I'm pointing at now. (Put it in *argv)
.
$ stated in thousands)Net Assets, Controlling Interest.docxAASTHA76
$ stated in thousands)
Net Assets, Controlling Interest
–
–
Net Assets, Noncontrolling Interest
AUDIT COMMITTEE
of the
Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America
Francis R. McAllister, Chairman
David Biegler Ronald K. Migita
Dennis H. Chookaszian David Moody
Report of Independent Auditors
To the Executive Board of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America
We have audited the accompanying consolidated financial statements of the National Council of the Boy Scouts
of America and its affiliates (the National Council), which comprise the consolidated statement of financial position
as of December 31, 2016, and the related consolidated statements of revenues, expenses, and other changes in net
assets, of functional expenses and of cash flows for the year then ended.
Management’s Responsibility for the Consolidated Financial Statements
Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements
in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America; this includes the
design, implementation and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of
consolidated financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
Auditors’ Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the consolidated financial statements based on our audit. We
conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America.
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the
consolidated financial statements are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the
consolidated financial statements. The procedures selected depend on our judgment, including the assessment of
the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making
those risk assessments, we consider internal control relevant to the National Council’s preparation and fair
presentation of the consolidated financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the
circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the National Council’s
internal control. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of
accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as
evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial sta.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <unistd.h>
// Change the constant below to change the number of philosophers
// coming to lunch...
// This is a known GOOD solution based on the Arbitrator
// solution
#define PHILOSOPHER_COUNT 20
// Each philosopher is represented by one thread. Each thread independenly
// runs the same "think/start eating/finish eating" program.
pthread_t philosopher[PHILOSOPHER_COUNT];
// Each chopstick gets one mutex. If there are N philosophers, there are
// N chopsticks. That's the whole problem. There's not enough chopsticks
// for all of them to be eating at the same time. If they all cooperate,
// everyone can eat. If they don't... or don't know how.... well....
// philosophers are going to starve.
pthread_mutex_t chopstick[PHILOSOPHER_COUNT];
// The arbitrator solution adds a "waiter" that ensures that only pairs of
// chopsticks are grabbed. Here is the mutex for the waiter ;)
pthread_mutex_t waiter;
void *philosopher_program(int philosopher_number)
{ // In this version of the "philosopher program", the philosopher
// will think and eat forever.
while (1)
{ // Philosophers always think before they eat. They need to
// build up a bit of hunger....
//printf ("Philosopher %d is thinking\n", philosopher_number);
usleep(1);
// That was a lot of thinking.... now hungry... this
// philosopher (who knows his own number) grabs the chopsticks
// to her/his right and left. The chopstick to the left of
// philosopher N is chopstick N. The chopstick to the right
// of philosopher N is chopstick N+1
//printf ("Philosopher %d wants chopsticks\n",philosopher_number);
pthread_mutex_lock(&waiter);
pthread_mutex_lock(&chopstick[philosopher_number]);
pthread_mutex_lock(&chopstick[(philosopher_number+1)%PHILOSOPHER_COUNT]);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&waiter);
// Hurray, if I got this far I'm eating
printf ("Philosopher %d is eating\n",philosopher_number);
//usleep(1); // I spend twice as much time eating as thinking...
// typical....
// I'm done eating. Now put the chopsticks back on the table
//printf ("Philosopher %d finished eating\n",philosopher_number);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&chopstick[philosopher_number]);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&chopstick[(philosopher_number+1)%PHILOSOPHER_COUNT]);
//printf("Philosopher %d has placed chopsticks on the table\n", philosopher_number);
}
return(NULL);
}
int main()
{ int i;
srand(time(NULL));
for(i=0;i<PHILOSOPHER_COUNT;i++)
pthread_mutex_init(&chopstick[i],NULL);
pthread_mutex_init(&waiter,NULL);
for(i=0;i<PH.
#Assessment BriefDiploma of Business Eco.docxAASTHA76
#
Assessment BriefDiploma of Business Economics for Business
Credit points : 6 Prerequisites : None Co-requisites :
Subject Coordinator : Harriet Scott
Deadline : Sunday at the end of week 10 (Turnitin via CANVAS submission). Reflection due week 11 in tutorials.
ASSESSMENT TASK #3: FINAL CASE STUDY REPORT 25%
TASK DESCRIPTION
This assessment is a formal business report on a case study. Case studies will be assigned to students in the Academic and Business Communication subject. Readings on the case study are available on Canvas, in the Economics for Business subject. Students will also write a reflection on learning in tutorial classes in week 11.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
· Demonstrates understanding of microeconomic and macroeconomic concepts
· Applies economic concepts to contemporary issues and events
· Evaluates possible solutions for contemporary economic and business problems
· Communicates economic information in a business report format
INSEARCH CRICOS provider code: 00859D I UTS CRICOS provider code: 00099F INSEARCH Limited is a controlled entity of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), a registered non-self accrediting higher education institution and a pathway provider to UTS.
1. Refer to the case study you are working on for your presentation in Academic and Business Communication. Read the news stories for your case study, found on Canvas.
2. Individually, write a business report that includes the following information:
· Description of the main issue/problem and causes
· Description of the impact on stakeholders
· Analysis of economic concepts relevant to the case study (3-5 concepts)
· Recommendations for alternate solutions to the issue/problem
3. In your week 11 tutorial, write your responses to the reflection questions provided by your tutor, describing your learning experience in this assessment.
Other Requirements Format: Business Report
· Use the Business Report format as taught in BABC001 (refer to CANVAS Help for more information)
· Write TEEL paragraphs (refer to CANVAS Help for more information)
· All work submitted must be written in your own words, using paraphrasing techniques taught in BABC001
· Check Canvas — BECO — Assessments — Final Report page and ‘Writing a report' flyer for more information
Report Presentation: You need to include:
· Cover page as taught in BABC001
· Table of contents - list headings, subheadings and page numbers
· Reference list - all paraphrased/summarised/quoted evidence should include citations; all citations should be detailed in the Reference List
Please ensure your assignment is presented professionally. Suggested structure:
· Cover page
· Table of contents (bold, font size 18)
· Executive summary (bold, font size 18)
· 1.0 Introduction (bold, font size 16)
· 2.0 Main issue (bold, font size 16)
o 2.1 Causes (italics, font size 14)
· 3.0 Stakeholders (bold, font size 16)
o 3.1 Stakeholder 1 (italics, font size 14) o 3.2 Stakeholder 2 (italics, font size 14) o 3.3 Stakeholde.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
// Prototype of FOUR functions, each for a STATE.
// The func in State 1 performs addition of "unsigned numbers" x0 and x1.
int s1_add_uintN(int x0, int x1, bool *c_flg);
// The func in State 2 performs addition of "signed numbers" x0 and x1.
int s2_add_intN(int x0, int x1, bool *v_flg);
// The func in State 3 performs subtraction of "unsigned numbers" x0 and x1.
int s3_sub_uintN(int x0, int x1, bool *c_flg);
// The func in State 3 performs subtraction of "signed numbers" x0 and x1.
int s4_sub_intN(int x0, int x1, bool *v_flg);
// We define the number of bits and the related limits of unsigned and
// and signed numbers.
#define N 5 // number of bits
#define MIN_U 0 // minimum value of unsigned N-bit number
#define MAX_U ((1 << N) - 1) // maximum value of unsigned N-bit number
#define MIN_I (-(1 << (N-1)) ) // minimum value of signed N-bit number
#define MAX_I ((1 << (N-1)) - 1) // maximum value of signed N-bit number
// We use the following three pointers to access data, which can be changed
// when the program pauses. We need to make sure to have the RAM set up
// for these addresses.
int *pIn = (int *)0x20010000U; // the value of In should be -1, 0, or 1.
int *pX0 = (int *)0x20010004U; // X0 and X1 should be N-bit integers.
int *pX1 = (int *)0x20010008U;
int main(void) {
enum progState{State1 = 1, State2, State3, State4};
enum progState cState = State1; // Current State
bool dataReady = false;
bool cFlg, vFlg;
int result;
while (1) {
dataReady = false;
// Check if the data are legitimate
while (!dataReady) {
printf("Halt program here to provide correct update of data\n");
printf("In should be -1, 0, and 1 and ");
printf("X0 and X1 should be N-bit SIGNED integers\n");
if (((-1 <= *pIn) && (*pIn <= 1)) &&
((MIN_I <= *pX0) && (*pX0 <= MAX_I)) &&
((MIN_I <= *pX1) && (*pX1 <= MAX_I))) {
dataReady = true;
}
}
printf("Your input: In = %d, X0 = %d, X1 = %d \n", *pIn, *pX0, *pX1);
switch (cState) {
case State1:
result = s1_add_uintN(*pX0, *pX1, &cFlg);
printf("State = %d, rslt = %d, Cflg = %d\n", cState, result, cFlg);
cState += *pIn;
if (cState < State1) cState += State4;
break;
case State2:
result = s2_add_intN(*pX0, *pX1, &vFlg);
printf("State = %d, rslt = %d, Vflg = %d\n", cState, result, vFlg);
cState += *pIn;
break;
case State3:
case State4:
default:
printf("Error with the program state\n");
}
}
}
int s1_add_uintN(int x0, int x1, bool *c_flg) {
if (x0 < 0) x0 = x0 + MAX_U + 1;
if.
This presentation was provided by Steph Pollock of The American Psychological Association’s Journals Program, and Damita Snow, of The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), for the initial session of NISO's 2024 Training Series "DEIA in the Scholarly Landscape." Session One: 'Setting Expectations: a DEIA Primer,' was held June 6, 2024.
Executive Directors Chat Leveraging AI for Diversity, Equity, and InclusionTechSoup
Let’s explore the intersection of technology and equity in the final session of our DEI series. Discover how AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be used to support and enhance your nonprofit's DEI initiatives. Participants will gain insights into practical AI applications and get tips for leveraging technology to advance their DEI goals.
This presentation includes basic of PCOS their pathology and treatment and also Ayurveda correlation of PCOS and Ayurvedic line of treatment mentioned in classics.
Main Java[All of the Base Concepts}.docxadhitya5119
This is part 1 of my Java Learning Journey. This Contains Custom methods, classes, constructors, packages, multithreading , try- catch block, finally block and more.
Strategies for Effective Upskilling is a presentation by Chinwendu Peace in a Your Skill Boost Masterclass organisation by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan on 08th and 09th June 2024 from 1 PM to 3 PM on each day.
How to Manage Your Lost Opportunities in Odoo 17 CRMCeline George
Odoo 17 CRM allows us to track why we lose sales opportunities with "Lost Reasons." This helps analyze our sales process and identify areas for improvement. Here's how to configure lost reasons in Odoo 17 CRM
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
How to Build a Module in Odoo 17 Using the Scaffold MethodCeline George
Odoo provides an option for creating a module by using a single line command. By using this command the user can make a whole structure of a module. It is very easy for a beginner to make a module. There is no need to make each file manually. This slide will show how to create a module using the scaffold method.
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...RitikBhardwaj56
Discover the Simplified Electron and Muon Model: A New Wave-Based Approach to Understanding Particles delves into a groundbreaking theory that presents electrons and muons as rotating soliton waves within oscillating spacetime. Geared towards students, researchers, and science buffs, this book breaks down complex ideas into simple explanations. It covers topics such as electron waves, temporal dynamics, and the implications of this model on particle physics. With clear illustrations and easy-to-follow explanations, readers will gain a new outlook on the universe's fundamental nature.
How to Setup Warehouse & Location in Odoo 17 InventoryCeline George
In this slide, we'll explore how to set up warehouses and locations in Odoo 17 Inventory. This will help us manage our stock effectively, track inventory levels, and streamline warehouse operations.
1. !! NavigationNavigation
MONTHLY REVIEW
AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST MAGAZINE
S e a r c hS e a r c h
Home › 1998 › Volume 49, Issue 11 (April) › The Scale of Our
Ecological Crisis
Dear Reader, we make this and other articles available for free
online to serve those unable to afford
or access the print edition of Monthly Review. If you read the
magazine online and can afford a print
subscription, we hope you will consider purchasing one. Please
visit the MR store for subscription
options. Thank you very much. —EDS.
Topics: Marxist Ecology
JOHN BELLAMY FOSTER, is a member of
the Board of the Monthly Review
Foundation, teaches sociology at the
University of Oregon and is coeditor of
Organization & Environment. He is the
author of The Theory of Monopoly
Capital (1986) and The Vulnerable
Planet (1994), both published )y
Monthly Review Press.
The Scale of Our Ecological Crisis
by John Bellamy Foster
2. One of the problems that has most
troubled analysts of global ecological crisis
is the question of scale. How momentous is
the ecological crisis? Is the survival of the
human species in question? What about life
in general? Are the basic biogeochemical
cycles of the planet vulnerable? Although
few now deny that there is such a thing as
an environmental crisis, or that it is in some
sense global in character, some rational
scientists insist that it is wrong to say that life itself, much less
the planet, is seriously
threatened. Even the mass extinction of species, it is pointed
out, has previously
occurred in evolutionary history. Critics of environmentalism
(often themselves claiming
to be environmentalists) have frequently used these rational
reservations on the part of
scientists to brand the environmental movement as
“apocalyptic.”
3. Lest one conclude that this is simply a political dispute between
those on the side of
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nature and the greater part of humanity, on the one hand, and
those who support the
ecologically destructive status quo, on the other, it should be
emphasized that the same
question has been often raised within the left itself—and
sometimes by individuals
deeply concerned about environmental problems. An example of
this is David Harvey’s
new book, Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference
(1996). Harvey devotes
considerable space in this work to criticizing my book, The
Vulnerable Planet: A Short
Economic History of the Environment (Monthly Review Press,
1994, 1999), for the
4. “apocalyptic” character of its argument. In Harvey’s words,
[T]he postulation of a planetary ecological crisis, the very idea
that the planet is
somehow ‘vulnerable’ to human action or that we can actually
destroy the earth, repeats
in negative form the hubristic claims of those who aspire to
planetary domination. The
subtext is that the earth is somehow fragile and that we need to
become caring
managers or caring physicians to nurse it back from sickness
into health…. Against this it
is crucial to understand that it is materially impossible for us to
destroy the planet earth,
that the worst we can do is to engage in material
transformations of our environment so
as to make life less rather than more comfortable for our own
species being, while
recognizing that what we do also does have ramifications (both
positive and negative)
for other living species….Politically, the millenarian and
apocalyptic proclamation that
ecocide is imminent has had a dubious history. It is not a good
basis for left politics and
it is very vulnerable to the arguments long advanced by [ Julian]
5. Simon and now by
[Greg] Easterbrook, that conditions of life (as measured, for
example, by life expectancy)
are better now than they have ever been and that the doomsday
scenario of the
environmentalists is far-fetched and improbable.
Aside from the purely rhetorical flourishes—the use of such
terms as “millenarian” and
“apocalyptic” which because of the sense of religious fatalism
associated with them
imply something irrational in character (the wrath of God, the
second coming) which has
little to do with the arguments of most environmentalists—this
can be taken as a
serious criticism not only of The Vulnerable Planet but of ideas
that have common
currency in environmental circles. It is noteworthy that this
same criticism, of being
“apocalyptic,” has frequently been leveled at such figures as
Henry David Thoreau,
George Perkins Marsh, Rachel Carson, Paul Ehrlich and Barry
Commoner—indeed at
almost all figures who have contributed anything of importance
to understanding the
6. modern ecological crisis.
Naturally, some phrases utilized in the environmental
discussion—such as Silent Spring,
The Closing Circle, Earth in the Balance, The End of Nature,
and The Vulnerable Planet—are
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2
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metaphorical, and while pointing to real concerns are not to be
taken too literally. When
it comes to actual argument, though, most analysts attempt to
present an accurate
portrayal of the real dimensions of the problem. Thus the
opening sentences of Chapter
One of The Vulnerable Planet convey the exact sense in which
the title of that work is to
be understood: “Human society has reached a critical threshold
in its relation to the
environment. The destruction of the planet, in the sense of
making it unusable for
human purposes, has grown to such an extent that it now
threatens the continuation of
7. much of nature, as well as the survival and development of
society itself.” It might have
been added that the survival of the human species was also in
doubt as a result of these
very same processes.
All of this drives us back to our initial question: what is the
proper scale with which to
view our environmental crisis? This is an issue that was taken
up not too long ago by
Stephen Jay Gould in an essay entitled “The Golden Rule: A
Proper Scale for Our
Environmental Crisis.” Gould begins his article by
acknowledging the reality of some of
the very facts cited by those who downplay the environmental
crisis. Human beings he
argues are powerless over the earth on a geological time scale
(that is in terms of tens of
millions of years):
All the megatonnage in all our nuclear arsenals yields but one
ten-thousandth the
power of the 10 km asteroid that might have triggered the
Cretaceous mass extinction.
Yet the earth survived that larger shock and, in wiping out
8. dinosaurs, paved a road for
the evolution of large mammals, including humans. We fear
global warming, yet even
the most radical model yields an earth far cooler than many
happy and prosperous
times of a prehuman past. We can surely destroy ourselves, and
take many other
species with us, but we can barely dent bacterial diversity and
will surely not remove
many million species of insects and mites. On geological scales,
our planet will take
good care of itself and let time clear the impact of any human
malfeasance.
Having said this, however, Gould goes on to suggest that this
way of thinking—
predicated on a geological time-scale—is irrelevant where
human time-scales are
concerned. “We cannot threaten at geological scales,” Gould
writes,
but such vastness has no impact upon us. We have a legitimately
parochial interest in
our own lives, the happiness and prosperity of our children, the
suffering of our fellows.
The planet will recover from a nuclear holocaust, but we will be
9. killed and maimed by
billions, and our culture will perish. The earth will prosper if
polar icecaps melt under a
global greenhouse, but most of our major cities, built at sea
level as ports and harbors,
3
will founder, and changing agricultural patterns will uproot our
populations.
Our vision in contemporary society is normally limited to our
own lifetime and that of a
few generations that come before or after us. As a teacher in the
realm of social science
I know how difficult it is to get students to think in terms of
historical time, which often
means perceiving things on a scale of centuries or millennia. All
of this, however, falls far
short of a geological time scale, which exceeds the average life
span of most species. In
this sense it is reasonable to speak metaphorically of a world in
which there is no more
spring, or of a “vulnerable planet” when as Gould says the
threatened reality is one of
10. the elimination of human society and even the human species,
along with innumerable,
“higher” species of direct significance to human beings, as a
result of the destruction
that humanity is wreaking on its own life support systems. We
are definitely speaking
parochially: of “our ecological crisis” and not of the demise of
the earth or of the
biosphere on a geological time-scale. Yet behind this concern
lies the fact that even the
basic biogeochemical processes of the planet—which human
beings have come to see
as quite fixed—are “vulnerable” to human transformation in
ways that are likely to
destroy the planet as a place for human habitation.
None of this of course is meant to deny the reality that, as
Gould says, we can “barely
dent bacterial diversity and will surely not remove many million
of species of insects and
mites.” But to say that we cannot claim that the planet or the
biosphere is “vulnerable”
because such “lower” life forms will survive, or because the
biosphere will recover over
tens of millions of years is to deny the right of human beings to
11. identify their fate and
that of the species with which they are most closely connected
with the fate of the
planet. It is to insist on a geological way of thinking (the
peculiar professional reality of
geologists and paleontologists), which though of great scientific
importance has little
direct relevance for humanity’s own existence. It is as if one
were to take the deep
ecological viewpoint, which insists that we should view human
beings as no more
important—even in our own eyes—than any other species, to the
level of absolute
absurdity of denying that it matters whether we as a species
utterly destroy our own
moment on earth. It is to deny an essential anthropocentrism
without which it is
probably impossible for human beings to respond to the
ecological crisis on the scale at
which we must—that is in the largest human terms, which
identifies our fate with that of
the planet.
Comfort or Survival?
12. Harvey does not stop with a mere rejection of unreasoning
“apocalypticism” but goes on
3
to insist that the environmental crisis raises no more serious
issue for human beings
directly than our own comfort. “The worst” that we can do as a
result of our
environmental depredations, he says, is “to make life less rather
than more
comfortable.” To point to anything beyond this, we are told,
opens one up to the
criticisms of those like Julian Simon and Greg Easterbrook who
accuse most
environmentalists of being “doomsday prophets.”
To be sure, one should beware of any gross exaggeration of
environmental problems.
But those sympathetic to the environment should not be lulled
by the likes of Simon and
Easterbrook—whom Paul and Anne Ehrlich in their Betrayal of
Science and Reason have
dismissed as representatives of the current “brownlash” against
environmentalism—into
13. playing down the severity of the ecological crisis. It has been
the world’s natural and
physical scientists and not doomsday prophets or the
scientifically uninformed who
have been at the forefront in sounding the alarm with regard to
global ecological crisis.
This can be seen by looking at the “World Scientists’ Warning
to Humanity” initiated by
the Union of Concerned Scientists and signed in 1992 by 1,575
of the world’s most
distinguished scientists, including more than half of all living
scientists awarded the
Nobel prize. According to this carefully worded statement,
representing the consensus
of concerned scientists:
Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course.
Human activities inflict
harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on
critical resources. If not
checked, many of our current practices put at risk the future we
wish for human society
and the plant and animal kingdom, and may so alter the living
world that it will be
unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental
14. changes are urgent if
we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring.
The World Scientists go on to emphasize that, “The
environment is suffering critical
stress” in such areas as the atmosphere, the oceans, water
resources, soil, forests, and
living species. “The irreversible loss of species, which by 2100
may reach one-third of all
species now living is especially serious.” Their conclusion is
unmistakably clear: “We the
undersigned, senior members of the world’s scientific
community, hereby warn all
humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our stewardship
of the Earth and the life
on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our
global home on this
planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.”
The main reason that the ecology of the entire planet—as we
know it—is now
threatened with “irretrievable mutilation” has to do with the
rapidly rising rate at which
4
5
15. human beings are transforming the earth, on a scale that is now
truly planetary in
character, rivaling the basic biogeochemical processes of the
planet. A few facts are
worth noting. Somewhere between a third and a half of the land
surface of the earth
has been transformed by human action; the carbon dioxide
content of the atmosphere
has increased by some 30 percent since the Industrial
Revolution; humanity now fixes
more atmospheric nitrogen than all natural terrestrial sources
combined; more than
half of the fresh water sources are now put to use by human
beings; 22 percent of
marine fisheries are being overexploited (or have already been
depleted), while 44
percent are at their limit of exploitation; one-quarter of the
Earth’s bird species have
been driven into extinction by human activities; rates of species
extinction are now 100
to 1000 times those that existed prior to the human domination
of the earth. In the
16. words of a distinguished team of scientists writing in Science
magazine: “The rates,
scales, kinds, and combinations of changes occurring now are
fundamentally different
from those at any other time in history; we are changing the
Earth more rapidly than we
are understanding it.”
Yet, the world’s natural and physical scientists, who have done
so much to alert us to the
dangers facing humanity and the planet as we know it are ill-
equipped to understand
the roots of the problem (or even the enormity of the threat
looming before us), since
they are generally unable to account for the social problems that
underlie this ecological
crisis, which demand explanations that go beyond such factors
as biology, demography
and technology—to address historical forms of production, and
particularly capitalism.
Most scientific statements on the environmental crisis end with
calls for more careful
management. Often, as in the World Scientists’ Warning,
specific measures are proposed
such as reduced dependence on fossil fuels and the substitution
17. of solar energy;
cutbacks in consumption; the elimination of world poverty;
controls on world population
growth; and increased sexual equality for women, including the
right to make their own
reproductive decisions.
Within the mainstream scientific viewpoint these issues are
reduced to questions of
individual and collective will—and sometimes to rational choice
by means of the market.
Since little serious thought is given to the social problem and
its relation to ecological
sustainability, the views of mainstream environmentalists
including most concerned
scientists, as Hans Magnus Enzensberger once pointed out,
often smack of a preacher’s
sermon in which “the horror of the predicted catastrophe
contrasts sharply with the
mildness of the admonition with which we are allowed to
escape.”
6
7
18. It is only when knowledge of ecological trends is coupled with
an understanding of
capital accumulation that the full extent of our global ecological
crisis is apparent.
Capitalism, as many of the world’s greatest economists—both
mainstream and radical—
have long acknowledged, is a system that can never stand still.
If the investment frontier
does not expand, and if profits do not increase, the circulation
of capital will be
interrupted and a crisis will ensue. A “stationary” capitalism is
thus an impossibility. As
Schumpeter expressed it, “capitalism is a process, stationary
capitalism would be a
contradictio in adjecto.” But at the dawn of the twenty-first
century there is every reason
to believe that the kind of rapid economic growth that the
system demands in order to
sustain its very existence—growth that now occurs within an
orbit that encompasses the
entire planet—is no longer ecologically sustainable, since it is
biased toward high
throughputs of materials and energy, which put strains on both
the planetary taps
19. (resources) and sinks (the ecosystems that must absorb the
resulting waste). All of this is
made much worse by the social, economic and ecological waste
resulting from the
specific nature and form of capitalist production (going beyond
the question of mere
quantitative growth).
The fact that there are limitations to the sustainable human
intervention into nature—
which is a way of saying that human society necessarily
coevolves with nature and is not
really independent of it—does not mean that all hope of
unending human progress
should be abandoned or that there cannot be a continuing
development of wealth, in
the sense of the more complete satisfaction of genuine human
needs. But it does mean
that the human capacity to promote narrow instrumental gain by
means of the “invisible
hand” of the market for the benefit of a very few in accordance
with the principle “après
moi, le déluge!” inevitably comes up against certain general
barriers imposed by nature,
20. as well as more specific social and historical barriers.
In 1946 George Orwell wrote an essay entitled “Some Thoughts
on the Common Toad.”
In that essay he begins by observing tadpoles in a pool, which
leads to the argument
that spring, like nature in general, is ever resurgent; no matter
how oppressive the
society nature is ever a haven and a source of “surplus energy.”
“So long as you are not
actually ill, hungry, frightened or immured in a prison or a
holiday camp, spring is still
spring. The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police
are prowling through
the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the
earth is still going
around the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats,
deeply as they
disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it.” The mere
resurgence every year of the
spring, Orwell suggested, was a reality that had nothing
whatever to do with the fact
that “we are all groaning, or at any rate ought to be groaning,
under the shackles of the
8
21. 9
capitalist system” and in that sense it completely lacked “a class
angle.” Yet, “if a man
cannot enjoy the return of the spring,” Orwell asked, “why
should he be happy in a
labour-saving Utopia?”
Today, a half-century later, Orwell’s belief that nature was
somehow isolated from the
social crisis of capitalism appears almost quaint. About a
decade and a half after he
authored his essay Rachel Carson wrote her environmental
classic, Silent Spring which
argued that,
Along with the possibility of the extinction of mankind by
nuclear war, the central
problem of our age has…become the contamination of man’s
total environment with
such substances of incredible potential for harm—substances
that accumulate in the
tissues of plants and animals and even penetrate the germ cells
to shatter or alter the
22. very material of heredity upon which the shape of the future
depends.
The source of this tragedy for Carson was that we live in “an
era dominated by industry,
in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom
challenged.” The
symbolic representation of this crisis was for her a spring
suddenly devoid of songbirds.
Ironically, given Orwell’s earlier argument, one of the leading
symbols of the “silencing of
the spring” today is vanishing frogs and toads. There are some
3,960 species of frogs
and toads, the noisiest amphibians. (Herpetologists often refer
to both as frogs.) Frogs
first emerged 150 to 200 million years ago. Now the growing
silence of the spring is
deepened by the rapid disappearance of frog species all over the
globe—often in areas
remote from human contact. In 1990 the world’s herpetologists
sounded the alarm,
making “the vanishing frogs” one of the most widely heralded
global ecological
catastrophes of the decade. By 1994 a probable cause had been
ascertained as a result
23. of a series of experiments conducted in Oregon. UV-B,
exposure to which is increasing
due to the thinning of the ozone layer, was discovered to be
killing frog eggs exposed to
sunlight. Widely publicized, this phenomenon has become the
proverbial canary in the
coal mine, announcing to the world that the threat of a “silent
spring” is more than ever
before us and on a truly global scale.
There is no escaping this global ecological contradiction other
than through forms of
conscious, rational control that capitalism is inherently
incapable of providing. “Freedom
in this sphere [the realm of natural necessity],” Marx wrote in
Capital, “can consist only in
this, that socialized man, the associated producers, govern the
human metabolism with
nature in a rational way, bring it under their collective control
instead of being
10
11
12
13
24. dominated by it as a blind power, accomplishing it with the
least expenditure of energy
and in conditions most worthy and appropriate for their human
nature.” The
impairment under capitalism of the metabolic relation between
human beings and the
earth (or soil), he argued, created conditions compelling “its
systematic restoration as a
regulative law of social production, and in a form adequate to
the full development of
the human race.” Hence, the “conscious and rational treatment
of the land as
permanent communal property” is “the inalienable condition for
the existence and
reproduction of the chain of human generations”— what we
refer to today as
“sustainable development.”
There are, as Harvey warns us, dangers in such a call for
rational social control of the
human relation to nature. Capitalism too insists on the need for
social controls—and
seeks to bend the process in its own direction. Human
25. “hubris”—insufficiently sensitive
to ecological necessity—could create new disasters. All one can
say in response is that
confronting such problems is what social and ecological
revolution is all about. To refuse
to engage with the problem is to give up on humanity—and the
earth—with at this point
quite predictable results.
Notes
1. David Harvey, Justice, Nature and the Geography of
Difference (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Blackwell, 1996), p. 194.
2. The epigraph for Carson’s book was taken from Albert
Schweitzer who wrote: “Man has
lost the capability to foresee and forestall. He will end by
destroying the earth.” See the
interesting discussion of “environmental apocalypticism” in
Laurence Buell, The
Environmental Imagination (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1995),
pp. 280-308.
3. Stephen Jay Gould, Eight Little Piggies (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1993), p. 49.
26. 4. Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H Ehrlich, Betrayal of Science and
Reason: How Anti-
Environmental Rhetoric Threatens Our Future (Washington,
D.C.: Island Press, 1996).
5. “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” in Ehrlich and
Ehrlich, Betrayal of Science and
Reason, pp. 242-50. See also John Bellamy Foster, John Jermier
and Paul Shrivastava,
“Global Environmental Crisis and Ecosocial Reflection and
Inquiry,” Organization &
Environment, vol. 10, no. 1 (March 1997), pp. 5-8.
6. Peter M. Vitousek, Harold A. Mooney, Jane Lubchenco, Jerry
M. Melillo, “Human
Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems,” Science, July 25, 1997, pp.
494-99.
7. Hans Magnus Enzensberger, “A Critique of Political
Ecology,” New Left Review, 84 (March-
14
April 1974), p. 26.
8. Joseph Schumpeter, Essays (Cambridge, MA.: Addison-
Wesley Press, 1951), p. 293. John
27. Stuart Mill is noteworthy among classical economists for
believing that a capitalist
economy would eventually terminate in a “stationary state” with
little or no growth in
population or output, and that this would allow for the
development of a more
comfortable relation between human beings and nature (as well
as an end to class
struggle). Insofar as he believed that economic growth would
gradually end with no
resulting social disruption he greatly underestimated the
contradictions built into the
laws of motion of capitalism. Today certain ecological
economists, such as Herman Daly,
see themselves as direct descendants of Mill, arguing for a
steady-state market
economy as the answer to the world’s ecological problems.
These thinkers are, if
anything, more unrealistic in their assessment of capitalism than
Mill himself. See John
Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book IV, in Mill,
Collected Works (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1965), pp. 752-57; Herman Daly,
Beyond Growth (Boston:
28. Beacon Press, 1996).
9. Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1 (New York: Vintage, 1976), p.
381. Marx theorized the existence
of general barriers to capital attributable to production in
general (and to natural
conditions) as well as more specific barriers attributable to
capital. See Michael
Lebowitz, “The General and Specific in Marx’s Theory of
Crisis,” Studies in Political
Economy, no. 7 (Winter 1982), pp. 5-25.
10. George Orwell, The Collected Essays, Journalism and
Letters (New York: Harcourt, Brace &
World, 1968), pp. 140-45.
11. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1962), p. 8.
12. Ibid., p. 13.
13. Kathryn Phillips, Tracking the Vanishing Frogs (New York:
St. Martin’s Press, 1994).
14. Marx, Capital, vol 1, p. 638, Capital, vol. 3 (New York:
Vintage, 1981), pp. 948-49, 959. See
also István Mészáros, The Necessity of Social Control (London:
Merlin, 1971). Reprinted in
Mészáros, Beyond Capital (New York: Monthly Review Press,
29. 1995).
by John Bellamy Foster
I am not as worried as Harvey about Marxism succumbing to
“the rhetoric of the
environmentalists.” Historical materialism is a mode of inquiry
(and a form of
revolutionary praxis) that, if it has any lasting meaning,
develops in response to
changing conditions and new vernacular traditions. The
Vulnerable Planet was originally1
inspired by an essay entitled “The Vulnerable Earth: Toward a
Planetary History” by U.S.
environmental historian Donald Worster. I wrote the book with
two thoughts
uppermost in my mind: that a historical materialism that did not
embrace
environmental issues was—in this day and age—hopelessly
inadequate; and that an
environmentalism not rooted in historical materialism was
hopelessly lost. I am
convinced that Marx’s critique of the political economy of
capital also contained within it
30. the fundamental elements of a political-ecological critique of
capitalism. Yet to deal with
ecological problems today, the classical legacy of Marxism is
not enough, and must be
supplemented with some of the insights of contemporary radical
ecology.
These days skepticism toward science is widespread.
Nevertheless, I was unprepared for
Harvey’s contention that the views of the World Scientists’
(referring to the “World
Scientists Warning to Humanity” signed in 1992 by over 1,500
senior scientists including
more than half of the recipients of the Nobel Prize among living
scientists—see my
article above) “are every bit as problematic as the literature
they rebut.” In his book
Harvey refers to Greg Easterbrook and Julian Simon as
examples of the opposing, anti-
environmental (self-styled “ecorealist”) point of view.
Among those who signed the World Scientists’ Warning we find
figures like Hans Bethe,
Robert Gallo, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Jane
Lubchenco, Howard Odum,
Linus Pauling, Ilya Prigogine, Carl Sagan, James Watson, and
31. Edward O. Wilson. The
credibility of scientists such as these in this area has to be
considered far beyond that of
an establishment journalist like Easterbrook who ends his book
by assuring his readers
that we can “terraform” Mars if we run out of ecological space
on earth, thereby giving
us “two biospheres for every one that exists today.” Simon, for
his part, is a
conservative, anti-environmental economist, best known as a
proponent of what has
been called the “weak sustainability hypothesis”: the idea that
increases in economic
wealth as measured by the market can substitute completely for
any losses in natural
wealth.
In dismissing the World Scientists’ Warning Harvey claims that
their metaphor of a
“collision” of humanity with the earth is “abstract and
ideological.” Yet, this ignores the
significance of this particular metaphor within contemporary
science. The most recent
of the great mass extinctions (there have been five extinctions
in which 65 percent or
32. more of species died out in a brief geological instant) was quite
likely the result, many
scientists now believe, of the collision of an asteroid with the
earth some 65 million
years ago—the end-Cretaceous extinction resulting in the
demise of the dinosaurs.
Hence, the collision metaphor implicitly invites a direct
comparison of the human
2
3
4
impact on the earth with that of the probable cause of the fifth
mass extinction.
Recently, scientists have warned that we are on the verge of
“the sixth extinction”—this
time at the hand of humanity.
I rubbed my eyes in disbelief when reading Harvey’s charge that
I had slipped into
Malthusianism by referring to the “Malthusian term
overpopulation”—in a litany of
environmental problems on the opening page of chapter one of
33. my book—and by
“approvingly” quoting the Ehrlichs and other Malthusians at
various points in my writing.
It is news to me that “overpopulation” is simply a “Malthusian
term.” Marx and Engels
pointed to the possibility of overpopulation, as have many
Marxists and socialists. In his
very first essay on political economy, for example, Engels
observed that,
Even if Malthus were completely right, this transformation [i.e.
social revolution] would
have to be undertaken on the spot, for only this transformation
and the education of
the masses which it alone provides makes possible the moral
restraint of the
propagative instinct which Malthus himself presents as the most
effective and easiest
remedy for over-population.
Although it is true that Malthusians have made overpopulation
the cause of all social
and environmental problems, it does not follow logically that all
those who consider
population growth to be a problem or who at times use the term
“overpopulation”—
34. always to be understood in relation to existing social relations
as well as the limits of the
earth—are thereby Malthusian. In my book I attack Malthus and
Malthusianism
throughout. Where population issues are concerned I rely
primarily on the theory of
demographic transition (particularly as advanced by Barry
Commoner in opposition to
the views of Paul Ehrlich), which has a long history within
socialist analysis. Moreover,
the argument of the book clearly states that it is the
accumulation of capital not
population which is the leading source of environmental
problems.
It is hard to know what to say when Harvey points to the fact
that I occasionally quote
favorably from the Ehrlichs and other Malthusians, as evidence
of my having slipped
into Malthusianism—especially since Harvey has nothing to say
about the specific
content of the quotations to which he refers. The logic of this
escapes me. Marx quoted
approvingly from Ricardo and John Stuart Mill (noted
Malthusians), and from Carlyle (an
35. ultra racist, author of The Nigger Question). This does not mean
that Marx was in danger
of slipping into Malthusianism or racism.
As a further example of my alleged tendency to succumb to the
“rhetoric of
environmentalism,” Harvey chastises me for “uncritically”
taking “the principle ‘nature
5
6
knows best’ from [Barry] Commoner.” Actually The Vulnerable
Planet makes only passing
reference to Commoner’s informal ecological law of “nature
knows best” along with his
other three informal laws (“everything is connected to
everything else,” “everything must
go somewhere,” and “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” i.e.
“nothing comes from
nothing”) which were used merely as a springboard for the
development of an argument
on the anti-ecological tendencies of capitalism. And even then it
can hardly be said that
36. Commoner’s principle was introduced “uncritically.” As I
observed in a footnote at this
point in the argument: “Commoner’s third law should not be
taken too literally.” As Haila
and Levins write, “The conception that ‘nature knows best’ is
relativized by the
contingency of evolution.’”
The argument of Haila and Levins (both distinguished
representatives of ecological
science, and in Levins’ case an important contributor to MR) is
worth following further.
Without categorically rejecting what Commoner himself
describes as a mere
“shorthand” expression, these authors attempt to define nature’s
requirements more
precisely. “Nature,” they tell us, “is mute, she does not give us
explicit advice; she only
forbids,” often only post factum.
For example, Commoner’s argument revolves around the
introduction of synthetic
chemicals. The petrochemical industry has managed to inject
70,000 new synthetic
chemical compounds—not the product of evolution and not
easily reabsorbable (at
37. least on a human time scale)—into the biosphere. As Commoner
writes, “these synthetic
compounds are sufficiently different from…natural compounds
to…disrupt normal
biochemistry, leading to mutations, cancer, and in many
different ways to death. In
effect, the petrochemical industry produces substances
that…cunningly enter the
chemistry of life, and attack it.”
The problem is that these chemicals were introduced to promote
profits without any
accounting of the overall ecological effects. It was the post
factum realization that nature
forbids such heavy reliance on these “elixirs of death” (as
Carson called pesticides, one
deadly branch of these new chemical compounds) that prompted
Carson to write Silent
Spring and Commoner The Closing Circle.
In the end what disturbs me most about Harvey’s argument is
the suggestion that we
should back off from talking about ecological catastrophe since
it is not a good basis for
socialist politics. “A socialist politics that rests on the view that
38. environmental
catastrophe is imminent,” he writes, “is a sign of weakness…. I
am by no means as
sanguine as many that a rhetoric of crisis and imminent
catastrophe will sharpen our
7
8
9
minds in the direction of class politics or even cooperative and
democratic responses as
opposed to a ‘lifeboat ethic’ in which the powerful pitch the rest
overboard.”
There are two issues here. First, the question of whether or not
humanity is presently on
a collision course with the earth is largely an empirical
question. It is not one that we
should deny or affirm on the grounds of political convenience.
Second, there is the issue of the basis of socialist politics.
Harvey suggests that this must
be rooted as directly as possible on class, which he sees at odds
with the general thrust
39. of ecological politics, with the exception of the environmental
justice movement. I would
agree that environmental politics (separated out from class
politics) cannot be the basis
for socialist politics. But it is only a narrow conception of class
(and of the environment)
that forces us to keep these elements separate. Marx repeatedly
emphasized that the
exploitation (or degradation) of the worker and of the soil were
two sides of the same
break in the social metabolism resulting from the logic of
capital. Both have to be taken
into consideration in any critique of capital. Capital, by its own
nature, tends to go
beyond its own absolute limits, and to undermine everything
beyond itself in the
attempt to absorb it within itself. What revolutionary ecology
teaches us, and what it
adds to the class struggle, is an understanding of the
thoroughness with which the
capital relation must be overthrown. Nowadays we can no
longer afford to think in
terms of justice alone, but we must also address the issue of
sustainability. Socialism
40. must become ecological without ceasing to be socialism. Indeed
a good case can be
made that in Marx’s view the two were inseparable.
Notes
1. See Teodor Shanin, ed., Late Marx and the Russian Road
(New York: Monthly Review
Press, 1983), pp. 243-75.
2. Donald Worster, “The Vulnerable Earth: Toward a Planetary
History,” in Worster ed., The
Ends of the Earth (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1988), pp. 3-20.
3. Harvey, Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference
(Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996),
p. 195.
4. Greg Easterbrook, A Moment on the Earth (New York:
Viking, 1995), pp. 687-88.
5. See Richard Leakey and Roger Levin, The Sixth Extinction
(New York: Doubleday, 1995),
pp. 44-56.
6. Friedrich Engels, “Outlines of a Critique of Political
Economy,” in Karl Marx, The Economic
and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (New York: International
Publishers, 1967), p.221.
41. 7. John Bellamy Foster, The Vulnerable Planet (New York:
Monthly Review Press, 1994,
∠ March 1998 (Volume 49, Number 10) Teamster Reform
Movement Survives Carey’s Debacle ∠
Also in this issueAlso in this issue
April 1998 (Volume 49, Number 11) , The Editors
Teamster Reform Movement Survives Carey’s Debacle , Jane
Slaughter
Marxism, Metaphors, and Ecological Politics , David Harvey
SubjectsSubjects
Ecology
Education
History
Imperialism
Inequality
Labor
Marxism
Media
Movements
Philosophy
Political Economy
Socialism
E-mail SUBMIT
1999), p. 154.
42. 8. Yrj Haila and Richard Levins, Humanity and Nature (London:
Pluto Press, 1992), p. 13.
9. Barry Commoner, Making Peace with the Planet (New York:
The New Press, 1992), pp. 13-
14.
Connect
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44. and profound poverty. In their desperation, these people feel
they have no alternative
but to seek sanctuary elsewhere, however hazardous the
attempt. Not all of them
have fled their countries, many being internally displaced. But
all have abandoned
their homelands on a semi-permanent if not permanent basis,
with little hope of a
foreseeable return.
As far back as 1995 (latest date for a comprehensive
assessment), these
environmental refugees totalled at least 25 million people,
compared with 27 million
traditional refugees (people fleeing political oppression,
religious persecution and
ethnic troubles). The environmental refugees total could well
double between 1995
and 2010. Moreover, it could increase steadily for a good while
thereafter as growing
numbers of impoverished people press ever harder on over-
loaded environments.
When global warming takes hold, there could be as many as 200
million people
overtaken by disruptions of monsoon systems and other rainfall
regimes, by droughts
of unprecedented severity and duration, and by sea-level rise
and coastal flooding.
Of the 25 million environmental refugees in 1995, there were
roughly five
million in the African Sahel, where a full ten million people
had fled from recent
droughts, only half returning home. Another four million, out
of eleven million
refugees of all types, were in the Horn of Africa including
45. Sudan. In other parts of
Sub-Saharan Africa, where 80 million people were considered
to be semi-starving due
primarily to environmental factors, seven million people had
been obliged to migrate
in order to obtain relief food. In early 2000 Sudan featured
eight million people who
were officially considered at risk of starvation, with another six
million in Somalia
and three million in Kenya, plus several million others in other
countries. A sizeable
though undocumented proportion of these could be
characterized as environmental
refugees.
__________________________________
* Based on Myers, N. and Kent, J. (1995) Environmental
Exodus: An Emergent Crisis
in the Global Arena, The Climate Institute, Washington DC;
and Myers, N. (2001),
Environmental Refugees: Our Latest Understanding,
Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society B: 356: 16.1-16.5.
13th Economic Forum,
Prague, 23-27 May 2005
Session III – Environment and Migration
EF.NGO/4/05
22 May 2005
ENGLISH only
46. While Sub-Saharan remains the prime locus of environmental
refugees, there
are sizeable numbers in other regions and countries. In China
with its 120 million
internal migrants, at least 6 million deserve to be regarded as
environmental refugees,
having been obliged to abandon their farmlands due to shortages
of agricultural plots
in the wake of decades of population growth. In Mexico there
are 1 million new
environmental refugees each year; some become assimilated in
cities, and a few
return home, leaving a cumulative total, as a bare minimum in
1995, of 2 million.
Finally there are those people displaced involuntarily by public
works projects,
notably large dams, and increasing by 10 million every year
(with a cumulative total
of 50 million in just China and India). Most of them resettle
elsewhere, but the
number remaining in a refugee-like situation totals at least 1
million.
The 1995 estimate of 25 million environmental refugees was
cautious and
conservative. Scattered throughout the developing world were
135 million people
threatened by severe desertification, and 550 million people
subject to chronic water
shortages. While certain of these people would have been
included in the 25 million
figure, many could well have been driven to migrate without
being counted as
environmental refugees.
47. Of the nearly one billion additional people added to the global
population
during the 1990s, a good proportion would have been among
communities with a cash
income of $1 per day or less. They include the people most
likely to be subsisting, or
rather struggling to survive, in environments too wet, too dry or
too steep for
sustainable agriculture. In Sub-Saharan Africa, these
environments would have
needed to support an extra 150 million people during the 1990s,
and a similar total in
India.
Poverty serves as an additional "push" factor associated with
the
environmental problems displacing people. Other factors
include population
pressures, malnutrition, landlessness, unemployment, over-rapid
urbanisation,
pandemic diseases and faulty government policies, together with
ethnic strife and
conventional conflicts. In particular, it is sometimes difficult to
differentiate between
refugees driven by environmental factors and those impelled by
economic problems.
In certain instances, people with moderate though tolerable
economic circumstances
at home feel drawn by opportunity for a better livelihood
elsewhere. They are not so
much pushed by environmental deprivation as pulled by
economic promise. This
ostensibly applies to many Hispanics heading for the United
States. But those people
who migrate because they suffer outright poverty are frequently
48. driven also by root
factors of environmental destitution. It is their environmental
plight as much as any
other factor that makes them economically impoverished. This
generally applies to
those refugees who migrate to areas where economic conditions
are little if any better
than back home, as is the case with many people who migrate
within Sub-Saharan
Africa and the Indian subcontinent. In this instance, with
poverty and "life on the
environmental limits" as the main motivating force, it matters
little to the migrants
whether they view themselves primarily as environmental or
economic refugees.
On top of all these sub-problems is the lack of official
recognition, whether
on the part of governments or international agencies, that there
is an environmental
refugee problem at all.
Of course the above is not to overlook parallel problems in
OSCE countries;
very much on the contrary. Well known is the displacement of
tens of thousands of
people in the environs of the Aral Sea and as a result of
desertification and general
land degradation in other parts of Central Asia. Of course "tens
of thousands" of
these environmental refugees does not compare with the tens of
millions of such
refugees in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world, but it
49. is specially
significant, obviously enough, for the people concerned.
Concerns for Environmental Security
All in all, the issue of environmental refugees promises to rank
as one of the
foremost human crises of our times. To date, however, it has
been viewed as a
peripheral concern, a kind of aberration from the normal order
of things--even though
it is an outward manifestation of profound deprivation and
despair. While it derives
primarily from environmental problems, it generates myriad
problems of political,
social and economic sorts. As such, it could readily become a
cause of turmoil and
confrontation, leading to conflict and violence. Yet as the
problem becomes more
pressing, our policy responses fall ever-further short of
measuring up to the challenge.
To repeat a pivotal point: environmental refugees have still to
be officially recognized
as a problem at all.
At the same time, there are limits to host countries' capacity,
let alone
willingness, to take in outsiders. Immigrant aliens present
abundant scope for popular
resentment, however unjust this reaction. In the wake of
perceived threats to social
cohesion and national identity, refugees can become an excuse
for outbreaks of ethnic
tension and civil disorder, even political upheaval. This is
50. already the case in those
developed countries where immigrant aliens increasingly prove
unwelcome, as
witness the experience of Haitians in the United States and
North Africans in Europe.
Almost one third of developed countries are taking steps to
further restrict immigrant
flows from developing countries. Yet measures to relieve the
plight of refugees of
whatever kind have drastically diminished in relation to the
growing scale of the
problem. Although the annual budget of the United Nations
High Commissioner for
Refugees was recently boosted somewhat, the agency is
increasingly unable to supply
food and shelter for refugees of traditional kind alone, much
less to invest in
rehabilitation or repatriation of these refugees. Meantime the
world's refugee burden
is borne primarily by the poorest sectors of the global
community. In the year 2000
the twenty countries with the highest ratios of official
(traditional) refugees had an
annual per-capita income of only $850.
Linkages to OSCE countries
Insofar as this paper postulates that the most prominent
concentrations of
environmental refugees are located in developing regions, the
OSCE countries might
respond that the "over there" problem has little to do with them
in practical terms.
True, they may sense a humanitarian reaction and supply aid for
51. that reason, but it is
likely to remain limited, at best, in relation to "bigger picture"
factors, which should
be viewed as exceptionally significant. Developed countries
cannot isolate
themselves from distress and disaster in developing countries:
already there are
sizeable numbers of environmental refugees who have made
their way, usually
illegally, into OSCE countries--and today's stream will surely
come to be regarded as
a trickle when compared with the floods that will ensue in
decades ahead.
Consider, for instance, the case of Italy, a country well placed
for North
Africans who can clandestinely cross from Tunisia to Sicily in a
three-hour voyage.
They number at least 120,000 per year, and their cumulative
total has exceeded 1
million. Spain is an even easier target for North Africans, who
readily cross the 15
kilometres of the Straits of Gibraltar; the numbers involved
match those of Italy. A
still more facile opportunity awaits Hispanics from Mexico and
Central America who
cross the Rio Grande into the United States with numbers of at
least 0.5 million per
year, and with a cumulative total of 6 million.
Thus the environmental refugees problem is not a problem
confined to
countries way beyond the horizon from OSCE countries. Note,
52. moreover, that the
problem will surely grow bigger fast. Morocco, Tunisia and
Libya are each losing
over 1000 square kilometres of productive land a year to
desertification. In Egypt,
which is uniquely dependent upon irrigation, half of irrigated
croplands suffer from
salinization--and Egypt already imports a huge share of its food.
Turkey has lost
160,000 square kilometres of farmlands to soil erosion. These
environmental
pressures are aggravated by population pressures. North Africa
today features 152
million people, and the eastern Mediterranean 100 million, with
a joint total of 252
million. Contrast the European Union 459 million, a good deal
larger. But the
Mediterranean countries are growing much faster. Projected for
2025: North
Africa/eastern Mediterranean 333 million people, for an
increase of 32%, whereas the
European Union is projected to grow to 470 million, for an
increase of 2%. Across
the Atlantic, Mexico/Central America/Caribbean today totals
185 million, way behind
the United States with 294 million. But a 2025 projection that
Mexico/Central
America/Caribbean will grow to 235 million, for an increase of
27%, whereas the
United States will grow to 349 million for an increase of just
19%.
Policy options
53. There is much scope for preventive policies, with the aim of
reducing the need
to migrate by ensuring an acceptable livelihood in established
homelands. First of
all, we need to expand our approach to refugees in general in
order to include
environmental refugees in particular. We cannot continue to
ignore environmental
refugees simply because there is no institutionalised mode of
dealing with them. If
official standing were to be accorded to these refugees, this
might help to engender a
recognised constituency for e.g. those 900 million people who
endure desertification,
4 million of whom have become environmental refugees in the
Sahel alone. While
desertification entrains costs of $42 billion a year just through
the loss of agricultural
produce, the United Nations' Anti-Desertification Action Plan
would cost no more
than $22 billion a year. Yet the amount subscribed so far falls
far short of the target,
ostensibly on the grounds that arid-land dwellers have no
constituency and hence lack
political leverage.
Secondly, we need to widen and deepen our understanding of
environmental
refugees by establishing the root causes of the problem--not
only environmental
causes but associated problems such as security concerns, plus
the interplay of the two
sets of forces. There are many conceptual grey areas as
54. concerns proximate and
ultimate causes, the contributory roles of population pressures
and poverty, the
linkages to ethnic tensions and conventional conflict, and so
lengthily forth.
Consider too the root causes of famine. If a famine has been
human-made, it
can be human-unmade, whereas natural factors can only be
managed and
accommodated. Just as the recurrent droughts in Sub-Saharan
Africa cannot all be
blamed on climate, so the recurrent famines cannot all be
blamed on drought--and the
same must apply, to some degree at least, to droughts (plus
desertification) in Central
Asia. Drought has often served to trigger famines by disrupting
the social, economic
and political processes that would normally ensure sufficient
access or entitlement to
food.
Probably most important of all is that there can be little
progress except within
an overall context of what has come to be known as Sustainable
Development. This
applies notably to reliable access to food, water, energy, health
and other basic human
needs--lack of which is behind many environmental refugees'
need to migrate. In big
picture terms, sustainable development represents a sound way
to pre-empt the
environmental refugee issue in its full scope over the long run.
As a prime mode to
tackle the issue, then, there would be a handsome payoff on
investment to foster
55. Sustainable Development in developing countries through
greater policy emphasis on
environmental safeguards, together with efforts to stem
associated problems such as
poverty, population and landlessness.
Let us conclude this paper with an unusually pragmatic mode
of promoting
Sustainable Development, whether in the Horn of Africa or
Central Asia, whether in
the Himalayan foothills or the borderlands of the Caucasus
mountains. A prime way
to tackle desertification, salinization, in fact several sorts of
land degradation, is
through planting trees for shelter belts, to retain soil moisture,
and to resist soil
erosion. Certain types of trees offer additional benefits, e.g.
leguminous species add
nitrogen to infertile soils, or they supply built-in insecticides,
or they offer industrial
timber. Probably the biggest benefit lies with reforestation in
montane areas, in order
to rehabilitate hydrological systems and watershed functions,
and thus avoiding floods
and drying-outs for river systems downstream. All in all, and in
whatever part of the
world, restoring tree cover almost always presents an
exceptional win-win outcome.
56. Ecology of Increasing Diseases: Population Growth and
Environmental Degradation
Author(s): D. Pimentel, S. Cooperstein, H. Randell, D.
Filiberto, S. Sorrentino, B. Kaye, C.
Nicklin, J. Yagi, J. Brian, J. O'Hern, A. Habas and C.
Weinstein
Source: Human Ecology, Vol. 35, No. 6 (Dec., 2007), pp. 653-
668
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27654237
Accessed: 13-12-2016 06:41 UTC
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Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668
DOI 10.1007/s 10745-007-9128-3
Ecology of Increasing Diseases: Population Growth
and Environmental Degradation
D. Pimentel S. Cooperstein H. Randell D. Filiberto
S. Sorrentino B. Kaye C. Nicklin J. Yagi J. Brian
J. O'Hern A. Habas C. Weinstein
Published online: 31 July 2007
? Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract The World Health Organization (WHO) and
other organizations report that the prevalence of human
diseases during the past decade is rapidly increasing.
Population growth and the pollution of water, air, and soil
are contributing to the increasing number of human
diseases worldwide. Currently an estimated 40% of world
deaths are due to environmental degradation. The ecology
of increasing diseases has complex factors of environmental
degradation, population growth, and the current malnutri
tion of about 3.7 billion people in the world.
Key words Ecology environmental degradation
increasing disease malnutrition pollution
58. population growth
Introduction
The ecology of increasing diseases in humans is exceed
ingly complex because of the biology and diversity of
infectious organisms and the effects of environmental
degradation on the prevalence of disease (World Resources
Institute 1998; Pimentel et al 1998; McMichael 2001;
World Health Organization 2003e; Weiss and McMichael
2004; United Nations Environment Programme 2005).
Today, just six infectious diseases (acute respiratory
infections, human immunodeficiency virus/autoimmune
deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), diarrhea, tuberculosis,
malaria, and measles) cause approximately 90% of all
D. Pimentel (M) S. Cooperstein H. Randell D. Filiberto
S. Sorrentino B. Kaye C. Nicklin J. Yagi * J. Brian
J. O'Hern A. Habas C. Weinstein
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY 14853-0901, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
deaths from infectious diseases worldwide (WHO 2005c).
About 40% of the deaths (62 million per year) are attributed
to various environmental factors especially organic and
chemical pollutants (Pimentel et al 1998; Robbins 2000).
In addition, more than 3.7 billion humans suffer from
malnutrition (WHO 2004a), and 2.2 million infants and
children die each year from diarrhea, which is caused
largely by contaminated water and food (Population
Resource 2004).
In this article, we assess the relationship between
increasing population numbers and growing environmental
59. degradation. In addition, we examine the effects of both
factors on the current and future disease incidence
throughout the world.
Population Growth and Disease Transmission
Health hazards associated with population growth include
emerging and re-emerging diseases, poor vector control,
poor sanitation, water and food contamination, air pollu
tion, and natural disasters (Daily and Ehrlich 1996; Sachs
2000). Based on the current human growth rate of 1.2%, the
current world population of nearly 6.5 billion will double to
13 billion in the next 58 years, thereby greatly intensifying
pollution and disease problems (PRB 2006). The US
population is growing at twice the rate of China's
population (PRB 2006; US Census Bureau 2004, 2005).
In 70 years the US population is expected to double to 600
million, and will reach China's population of 1,300 million
in another 70 years, based on current growth rates (PRB
2006).
Today nearly half of the world's population live in cities,
and by 2025, it is projected that two thirds of the world's
population will have settled in large urban areas (PRB
2005). Densely crowded urban environments, especially
4? Springer
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654 Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668
60. those without adequate sanitation, are of public health
concern because they promote disease epidemics, like
measles and new diseases and influenza.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) disease
resulted from the crowding of humans and their livestock in
cities in China (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases 2004a). SARS probably originated in civet cats
that were being cultured and eaten by Chinese fanners.
Eventually the vims was passed to farmers and then other
people. In the 2003 outbreak, there were more than 8,000
cases of SARS with about 774 deaths (NIAID 2004a).
Environmental Pollution and Degradation
Global increases in air, water and soil pollution exacerbate
human exposure to environmental pollutants and malnutri
tion, resulting in an estimated 40% of the total human
deaths each year (Pimentel et al 1998). Even more harmful
to human health than these sources of pollution are tobacco
smoke and indoor cooking smoke (WHO 2004h). More
than 4 billion humans suffer from continuous exposure to
smoke from these sources (Bruce et al 2002). Increasing
automobile and energy use is also contributing to poorer air
quality in urban areas and to the growing number of human
illnesses and deaths worldwide (Union of Concerned
Scientists 2004).
Many humans are regularly exposed to toxic chemicals,
including mercury, benzene, and pesticides. Approximately
2.8 billion kilograms of toxic chemicals are released into
the US environment annually (US Census Bureau 2004).
Common household and industrial chemicals may cause
learning disabilities in 5 to 10% of US children (Miller
2004; Shettler et al 2000). Environmental factors, includ
61. ing various chemicals, ultraviolet and ionizing radiation,
and tobacco and cooking smoke account for 75% of all
cancers (Sharpe and Irvine 2004). Annually, approximately
10 million people are diagnosed with cancer with about 6
million cancer deaths reported worldwide (WHO 2004d). In
the United States, cancer-related deaths increased from
331,000 in 1970 to about 563,000 in 2002 (USCB 2003).
The majority of cancers are linked to the environment,
including chemicals and radiation (National Cancer Institute
2004).
Water Pollution and Diseases
Waterborne infections account for 80% of all infectious
diseases worldwide and 90% of all infectious diseases in
developing countries (Epstein et al 1994; Robbins 2000).
Lack of sanitary conditions contributes to approximately 4
billion human diarrhea infections, resulting in more than 2
million deaths each year, mostly occurring in infants and
young children (One World Health 2004). Even in
developed countries, waterborne diseases have major
impacts. In the USA, they account for 900,000 infections
and about 900 deaths each year (Seager 1995; Global Water
Issues 2002).
Approximately 1.2 billion people in developing nations
lack clean water because most household and industrial
wastes are dumped directly into rivers and lakes without
treatment, contributing to many waterborne diseases in
humans (Gleick 1993; MacDonald 2001; WHO 2004e).
Currently, about 50% of the developing world's population
is exposed to polluted water sources (United Nations
62. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization 2004a).
Approximately 2.5 billion people lack adequate sanitation,
contributing to more than 5 million deaths each year of
which more than half are children (United Nations 2001).
Developing countries discharge approximately 95% of their
untreated urban sewage directly into surface waters (United
Nations 2003). For example, only 4.6% of India's 5005
cities and towns have sewers and wastewater treatment
facilities (Eddy 2004). Often people use the untreated water
downstream for drinking, bathing, and washing.
Agricultural runoff also threatens the world's drinking
water with animal and chemical wastes. In the United
States, nearly 50% of lake water is polluted by erosion
runoff containing nitrates, phosphates, and other agricul
tural chemicals (Gleick 1993; Environmental Protection
Agency 2002). An estimated 20% of rivers are impaired
due to runoff from nearby intensive livestock operations
(EPA 1998).
In some countries, drastic environmental changes have
led to an explosion in diseases affecting humans. For
example, the construction of dams and similar alterations to
natural water flow has increased the number of snails that
are intermediate hosts for schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis
is associated with contaminated fresh water and is expand
ing worldwide, currently infecting more than 200 million
people, with death estimates of up to 200,000 per year
(Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical
Diseases, TDR 2004). For example, the 1985 construction
of a dam 100 km from the mouth of the Senegal River in
West Africa was followed by an explosion in Schistosoma
63. mansoni in the human population. By 1994, 72% of the
population was infected whereas there had been no
documented cases prior to the dam's construction (Morgan
et al 2001). Additionally, various models suggest that
climate change could lead to the spread of schistosomiasis
to more areas in Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America
(Martens 1995). Schistosomiasis is relatively stable in
Africa (it has been there longer) but continues to colonize
new snail hosts in South America, increasing its distribution
(DeJong et al 2001).
Malaria is another water-related concern for human
health. Currently more than 50% of the world's population
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Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668 655
is exposed to malaria, nearly a 10% increase in just 10 years
(Breman et al 2004). Malaria infects more than 500 million
humans each year, killing approximately 1.2 to 2.7 million
per year (Breman et al 2004; Snow et al 2005).
Approximately 90% of all malaria cases occur in Africa,
as do approximately 90% of the world's malaria-related
deaths (Breman et al 2004). Of interest is the fact that
urbanization appears to reduce the incidence of malaria
(Hay et al 2005). This may be due to a relative lack of
breeding sites in urban areas.
64. Pesticides are one of the prime methods of malaria
control. Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), when
first used for treating homes, resulted in dramatic reduc
tions in the incidence of malaria in people. For example, in
South Africa the use of DDT has been highly successful
from 1945 to 1995 and there has been no sign of DDT
resistance in vectors over the 50-year period (Guaasekasan
et al 2005). However, when DDT was also used for
agricultural purposes, it exposed most of the mosquito
populations to DDT and the mosquitoes evolved high levels
of resistance to DDT, making DDT relatively ineffective
(ICAITI 1977). Most nations have abandoned the use of
DDT for use in agriculture. Yet, DDT appears to be one of
the most effective insecticides for controlling malaria when
sprayed on the inside walls of houses and Chris Curtis of
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
reports no serious environmental problems when treating
the inside of houses (Curtis 2002). Mosquitoes do not
develop resistance because the quantities used are small;
spraying is required only once or twice a year, and only a
few mosquitoes (those inside houses) are actually exposed
to DDT (Walker et al 2003; Shapiro 2004). Additionally,
the negative effects usually associated with DDT, such as
bird kills, are greatly reduced by using only small quantities
of DDT inside houses (Pimentel 2005). However, it must be
emphasized that DDT is a hazardous chemical (John
Rappole, personal communication, Smithsonian Nation
Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA.). Since most mosquito
bites occur after dark when people are inside their homes
the use of DDT could dramatically reduce the incidence of
malaria in endemic areas (Walker et al 2003; Shapiro
2004).
65. A major concern in Africa is that malnourished people
are more susceptible to malaria. Young children who are
malnourished are twice as likely to die compared with well
nourished children (Caulfield et al 2004).
Environmental changes, including increased water pol
lution, have fostered much of the increase and high
incidence of malaria. Deforestation in parts of Africa has
exposed land to sunlight and promotes the development of
temporary pools of water with more neutral pH than
puddles in forested areas where organic matter is abundant
and pH is acidic (pH 4.5-5.5). The new pools facilitate the
breeding of human-biting, mal aria-transmitting mosqui
toes (Coluzzi 1994; Patz et al 2000). Moreover, changing
land use activity allows newr mosquito species to move in
and proliferate. For example, between 1971 and 1986
Brazil experienced a 76% increase in malaria transmitted
by mosquitoes (Patz et al 2000). As a result of mining
operations, migrants help malaria pathogens to migrate
between deforested areas (Patz et al 2000). In addition,
global wanning is improving environmental conditions for
mosquito proliferation, malaria, and other diseases
(Epstein et al 1998; Patz 2002). In sub-Saharan Africa
the average person in an endemic area receives 121 bites
from malaria-infected mosquitoes each year (Hay et al
2005). In addition, mosquito vectors are evolving resis
tance to insecticides, while the protozoan pathogens are
evolving resistance to anti-malarial drugs, reducing the
effectiveness of the control efforts (Lambert 2004; Whitty
et al 2004).
Atmospheric Pollution and Diseases
Each year, air pollutants kill about 3 million people
worldwide (WHO 2002c). Respiratory diseases such as
66. asthma, acute respiratory infections, and lung cancer are
strongly linked to environmental contaminants such as
tobacco smoke, indoor smoke from cooking with biomass,
and emissions from vehicle exhaust, power plants and other
industrial processes. Respiratory diseases disproportionate
ly affect vulnerable populations such as infants, children,
women, the poor, and people in developing countries
(WHO 2002c). An estimated 2.1 million children, younger
than 5 years, die from acute respiratory infections world
wide (WHO 2003c).
Air pollution is a significant source of respiratory disease
in the world, with 50% of chronic respiratory illness
probably associated with air pollution (Ourplanet 2004).
In most developed nations, the primary source of outdoor
pollution is vehicle exhaust and power plant emissions.
About 20% of the lung cancer deaths in the USA are caused
by particulate matter from vehicle exhausts (Pearce 2002).
In cold-climate developing countries, like parts of China
and the former Soviet Union, the prime source of outdoor
air pollution is coal-powered home heating and automobile
exhausts. In developing nations with warm climates, dust
and vehicle exhaust are the prime sources of air pollution
(Lvovsky 2001). Indoor air pollution from open cooking
fires and tobacco smoke is an equally lethal source of
respiratory disease, especially in rural areas in developing
countries (WRI 1998). By 1993, air pollution levels in all
20 of the world's largest cities exceeded World Health
Organization guidelines (WHO/UNEP 1992). Further, the
highest levels of air pollution are found in developing
countries.
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656 Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668
The Environmental Protection Agency's limit for partic
ulate matter (PM) in the air has a diameter of greater than
10 |xg (PM10), and this particulate matter is strongly linked
to respiratory disease. Los Angeles, with the highest PM10
level in the USA, averages less than 50 [ig/m2 (Samet et al
2000). However, in heavily polluted cities in the developing
world, like Beijing and New Delhi, fine particulate matter
averaged more than 300 |xg/m3 (Alberini et al 1997).
Air pollution is excessive in China, which has seven of
the ten most polluted cities in the world (Energy Informa
tion Agency 2003). If air pollution in China could be
brought within Chinese air quality standards, approximately
178,000 premature deaths from respiratory diseases in
urban areas could be prevented each year (McDonalds
2005). From 1955 to 1984, the prevalence of respiratory
diseases occurred at a rate five times higher in China than
in the USA, making respiratory diseases the leading cause
of death in China (Zimmerman et al 1996; WRI 1998).
In general, air pollutants exacerbate asthma, which
ultimately can become severe enough to cause death.
Worldwide, the incidence of asthma has increased, with
between 100 and 150 million people suffering from asthma
(WHO 2000c). In the USA, asthma is one of the most
chronic diseases in children, affecting about 5 million
children annually (Keeler et al 2002).
68. Globally, but especially in developing nations where
people cook with coal, fuelwood, dung, and other biomass
resources over open fires, nearly 4 billion humans suffer
continuous exposure to smoke (Bruce et al 2002). This
smoke contains more than 4,000 hazardous chemicals
including many carcinogens (DeKoning 1985). Fuelwood
cooking smoke is estimated to cause the death of 1.6
million children each year worldwide (WHO 2002c).
Because women do most of the cooking, they are twice as
likely as men to be diagnosed with respiratory illness
(Ezzati and K?mmen 2001).
Smoking is another major contributor to respiratory
illness. Currently there are 1.3 billion tobacco smokers
worldwide (WHO 2005b). More than 4,000 hazardous
chemicals are produced in cigarette smoke, 200 of which
are highly toxic (LSC 2004; LungUSA 2004). In the long
term, the carcinogenic compounds in tobacco smoke are
linked to a heightened risk of cancer among children
exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in their
childhood (D'Souza 1997). Each year between 150,000 and
300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infections in infants
and young children up to 18 months are attributed to ETS
(EPA 1992).
At present 4.9 million people worldwide die annually
from smoking (Von Schirnding et al 2000) with projections
suggesting that 10 million will die per year by 2025, 70%
of whom will reside in developing countries (Jenkins et al
1997). In the USA, about 440,000 people die each year
from smoking related illnesses, which is about 20% of all
US deaths (Center for Disease Control 2004c). The number
of smokers worldwide is expected to double by 2010
69. (UNESCO 2004b).
Skin cancer is another threat to global human health.
Between 2 and 3 million non-melanoma skin cancers and
132,000 melanoma skin cancers occur globally each year
(WHO 2002d). Skin cancer incidence is doubling about
every 17 years in the USA (Health Link 2004). The
American Cancer Society reported about 800,000 cases of
non-melanoma skin cancers in 1995, and in 2001 the number
of cases had risen to more than 1 million (Health Link 2004).
The WHO predicts a 10% increase in skin cancer incidence
in the USA by the year 2050 (WHO 2003b, e).
The rise in skin cancer incidence is associated with
anthropogenic pollution. As the ozone layer decreases, this
increases cancer-inducing UV-B radiation (McMichael 1993;
Martens and McMichael 2002; Mckenzie et al 2003).
Exposure to sunlight, including UV-B radiation, accounts
for 70% of skin cancers in the USA (SoRelle 2004).
The use of leaded gasoline is another source of concern
related to atmospheric pollution. Lead poisoning causes
anemia, kidney problems, and brain damage. Children
exposed to lead are particularly at risk for brain damage
and reduced learning capabilities (Canf?eld et al 2004).
Currently, an estimated 1.7 million children in the USA are
exposed to hazardous levels of lead and have blood levels
above the acceptable level of 10 u.g/dl (Council on
Environmental Quality 1996; CDC 2004g).
Chemical Pollution and Disease
70. Newly developed technologies increase the varieties,
potencies, and quantities of chemicals that are released into
the air, soil, and water each year. The release of chemicals
has damaged many important ecosystems and caused
serious disease problems in humans. The USA releases
over 2.8 billion kilograms per year of toxic chemicals
(USCB 2004). Over 85,000 industrial chemicals are used in
commerce and an additional 2,300 chemicals are added
each year (Zeeman et al 1996; Lucier and Schecter 1998).
The biological activity and human toxicity of most of these
chemicals is unknown (Thornton et al 2002).
Chemical exposures contribute to a variety of serious
human diseases, including cancer, birth defects, immune
system defects, reduced intelligence, behavioral abnormal
ities, decreased fertility, altered sex hormones, altered
metabolism, and specific organ dysfunctions (Carpenter et
al 2002). Americans of all ages carry a burden of at least
116 chemicals extraneous to their bodies, some of which
were banned more than three decades ago, such as DDT
and BHC (CDC 2003a). Other chemicals found in virtually
every person are lead, mercury, dioxins, and PCBs
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Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668 657
(Carpenter et al 2002). These chemicals find their way into
71. our bodies through the air we breathe, the water we drink,
our food, and our every day environmental exposure. In
fact, 48 states have advisories limiting fish consumption
because of contamination, like mercury; found in fish
(Anderson et al 2004). In Oklahoma, ponds tested from
2000 to 2003 by the Environmental Protection Agency
have been found to have mercury levels above the 0.5 ppm
that can be dangerous for pregnant women and children
(Tyree 2006). Despite advisories, currently 6% of women
of childbearing age in the USA have potentially hazardous
levels of mercury in their blood, which can cause
developmental and neurologicial defects in fetuses (Jones
et al 2004). Coal-fired power plants are the largest source
of mercury pollution.
In studies conducted in California and New Mexico,
16% of those surveyed were allergic or sensitive to
common chemicals (Kreutzer et al 1999). The cost of
multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) to society is high when
the effects of lost productivity, health care, and support for
disabled workers are totaled (Ashford and Miller 1998;
McCampbell 2002). Between 33 and 77 million people in
Bangladesh are at risk of poisoning from naturally occuring
arsenic in wells dug very deep (Arsenic 2005). The scale of
this impact is greater than the Bhopal accident in India that
killed 8000, injured over 120,000, and has an ongoing
health impact (Vosters 2003).
Perhaps of more serious concern to public health are
cancers resulting from chemicals. About 10 million new
cancer cases are diagnosed each year worldwide (Eaton 2003).
Some cancers are linked to the use of polluted water 70% of
the water in five of China's seven major river systems is
unsuitable for human use (The Economist 2004). In the USA,
1.4 million cases of cancer were reported in 2004 (USCB
72. 2004). A woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer has increased
from 1 in 22 in 1940 to one in seven today (Evans 2004).
The risks associated with chemical exposures are
compounded by immunosuppressive activities of some
chemicals. These chemicals increase the risk of infectious
diseases (Van Loveren et al 1995; WHO 1999). Pesticides
are one class of hazardous chemicals. Worldwide about 3
billion kilograms of pesticides are used per year, with about
0.5 billion kilograms applied per year in the USA (Pimentel
2005). Although the total quantity of pesticide use has not
increased significantly during the past decade, the toxicity
of individual pesticides has increased from 10- to 100-fold
compared with those in use in 1950 to 1960 (Pimentel
1997). In 1990, the number of work-related pesticide
poisonings in the developing world was estimated to be
25 million cases per year with approximately 220,000
fatalities (Jeyarathnam 1990; Richter 2002). Approximately
99% of the global deaths related to pesticides occur in
developing countries (WHO/UNEP 1990).
The number of human pesticide poisonings in the USA
was reported in 1990 to be about 67,000 per year in one
study (Litovitz et al 1990); later, the number was reported
to have increased to more than 300,000 per year (Klein
Schwartz and Smith 1997). This may reflect the higher
toxicity of the new pesticides in use today, compared with
the early pesticides, as well as the increased pesticide drift
problem. Aircraft application of pesticides causes the most
serious drift problem, with 40% to 60% of the pesticide
applied drifting away from the target area (Cox 1995).
Aerially applied pesticides are estimated to drift up to
1,600 m from the application site and may drift up to 80 km
73. downwind (Cox 1995). In California, 51% of the agricul
tural pesticide poisonings were the result of pesticide drift
(Kegley et al 2003).
Approximately 57% of non-fatal pesticide poisonings
reported in the USA involve children younger than 6 years
(Sanbom et al 2002). For example, in Washington State,
reports confirm that dietary doses of pesticides were
exceeded in 44% to 56% of the children with non-fatal
pesticide poisoning (Sanbom et al 2002).
Land Degradation Effect on Disease Incidence
Soil is contaminated by a wide array of chemicals and
pathogens. Humans may acquire chemical pollutants and
pathogens directly from the soil (i.e., by contact with the
soil) or indirectly, through food and water contamination.
At times, soil particles themselves may be pollutants,
entering the eyes, nose, and mouth and acting as irritants
or allergens.
Exposed soil is highly susceptible to wand and water
erosion. Wind erosion can cause serious health problems by
blowing into the air soil particles and microbes into the air,
which irritate the respiratory tract and eyes, and aggravate
allergies and asthma. In China, farmland erosion and
desertification has led to Beijing experiencing 11 dust
storms during one year (WHO 2002b). Many types of
pathogens have been recorded in blowing soil. For
example, 19 pathogen species that infect humans have
been recorded in blowing soil in various regions of the
earth, including anthrax, TB, flu virus, and hantavirus
(Griffin et al 2001). Erosion disperses toxic chemicals,
such as heavy metals and pesticides, leading to contami
nated food and water resources. Soil depth is also critical to
74. food crop production. For example, reducing soil depth by
25 cm was found to reduce crop productivity by about 60%
(Stallings 1964).
As the human population expands and land is cleared of
trees, loss of forest cover can contribute to an increase in
the prevalence of human infections by helminthes, such as
hookworms. After deforestation in Haiti, hookworm infec
tions rose from zero to 12% of the population in 1990 and
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658 Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668
15% in 1996 (Lilley et al 1997). Children suffer greater
morbidity from helminth infections than adults because
children need more protein than adults per kilogram of
body weight; under severe parasitic infections, they may be
unable to utilize protein efficiently enough to remain
healthy.
Many helminth species that infect humans are found in
soil contaminated by human feces, thereby exacerbating the
cycle of exposure. Worldwide, more than 2 billion people
are infected with one or more helminth species, either by
direct penetration or by consumption of contaminated food
or water (Hotex et al 1996). In locations where sanitation
is poor and people are overcrowded, such as parts of urban
75. Africa, up to 90% of the population may be infected with
one or more helminth species (Wamae and Mwanza 2000).
In China, approximately 600 million people (nearly half the
population) have water that is contaminated by human and
animal wastes (The Economist 2004).
Food Contamination, Disease, and Malnutrition
Although it is difficult to estimate, annually about 2.1
million people die from diarrheal diseases worldwide
(WHO 2002e). In industrialized nations, approximately
360 million foodborne disease cases occur annually and in
developing nations an estimated 1.9 billion annually (WHO
2002e). In the United States, approximately 76 million
foodborne diseases occur in humans each year, causing
5,000 deaths (Mead et al 1999; DeWaal et al 2000; NIAID
2002a). In addition, foodborne diseases cost the U.S. $5 to
$6 billion each year (Table I).
Poultry, hogs, cattle, and other livestock are easily
contaminated with Salmonella and various Escherichia coli
and Campylobacter microbes, especially when the animals
are crowded together in livestock facilities with inadequate
waste disposal systems (Lederberg et al 1992; Altekruse et
al 1997). Additional microbial contamination can result
from unsanitary conditions during slaughtering, processing,
and handling. In the USA, hen eggs and poultry have been
identified as the main source of Salmonella enteritidis,
which can cause severe gastrointestinal illnesses and
sometimes death in humans, especially among children
and the infirm (Prier and Solnick 2000; WHO 2002d). Over
the past 10 years S. enteritidis infections have increased
significantly on several continents (WHO 2002d).
76. The proliferation of confinement livestock has unknown
consequences on human health. A study conducted in
Milford, Utah by the Utah District of Health Department
studied the period of 1992-1998 when a 44,000 head sow
operation (with a target of 120,000 sows) was constructed.
The town of Milford experienced a fourfold increase in
diarrhea cases and threefold increase in respiratory ill
nesses. These rates were significantly higher than those
found in similar populations and in the state as a whole
(Thu 2000).
Staphylococcus and Salmonella are two airborne patho
gens in or near livestock facilities. These airborne microbes
can infect farm workers and people living downwind from
the livestock facility (Thu 2002). Thus, diarrhea and
various infections are common near large livestock facili
ties. (Thu 2002). Foodborne illnesses are estimated to cause
from S6.5 to $34.9 billion in damages and treatment costs
each year (Guelph University 2005).
Malnutrition, which includes inadequate intake of
calories, protein, iron, iodine, and numerous essential
vitamins, is a major disease related to environmental
degradation (Myers and Kent 2001). The World Bank
World Development Report estimated that deficiencies
of vitamin A, iron, and iodine waste as much as 5% of
global gross domestic product (GDP), while addressing
these deficiencies would cost just 0.3% of global GDP
(World Bank 1993). Malnutrition prevails in regions in
which the overall food supply is inadequate, where
populations lack economic resources to purchase food,
and where political unrest and instability interrupt food
77. supplies. In addition, rapidly expanding human popula
tions intensify the food-supply problems by diminishing
the per capita availability of cropland (Pimentel and
Pimentel 2003).
In 1950, 500 million people (20% of the world
population) were malnourished (Grigg 1993). Today more
than 3.7 billion people (nearly 60% of the world popula
tion) suffer from malnutrition (WHO 2004a)?the largest
number in history. Each year, approximately 6 million
children under the age of 5 die from malnutrition (Food and
Agriculture Organization 2002). Even in the USA, over
11% of all households experienced food insecurity during
2002 and 3.5% of those households has at least one family
member who went hungry (Nord et al 2003). Malnutrition
at an early age can lead to physical and mental under
development as an adult; this underdevelopment facilitates
a poverty trap where people are stuck at a low-level of
productivity, at a great cost to society and the environment
(Academy of Natural Sciences 2004).
Vitamin A malnutrition diminishes and impairs the
immune responses to infectious diseases in children.
Vitamin A supplements have been shown to decrease
mortality by 30% in vitamin A deficient children ages
6 months to 5 years (Stephensen 2001). Each year, vitamin
A deficiency causes approximately 2.5 million deaths
(International Development Research Centre 2004). Vita
min A shortages can also cause mental disabilities in
children (Obasanjo 2004; Academy of Natural Sciences
2004). More than 13 million people suffer night blindness
or total blindness from a lack of vitamin A (Academy of
Natural Sciences 2004).
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Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668 659
Table I Economic Costs of Diseases in the USA
Environmentally Induced Infectious Diseases vs Behavioral
Expenses
Environmental
Disease Financial cost (per year)
Intestinal infections
Foodborne diseases
Influenza
Antibiotic-resistant bac. infect.
Tuberculosis
Malaria prevention
Digestive diseases
Asthma
Smoking related costs
Cancer
Arthritis
Total
B eh a vi oral/geneti c
STDs (excluding AIDS)
Hepatitis B virus infection
79. Hepatitis C virus
AIDS
Cardiovascular
Inactivity
Obesity
Alcohol abuse
Diabetes
Total
Combined total (conservative)
$23 billion (direct medical costs and lost productivity)^
$ 5-6 Billion in medical and productivity costs ($1 billion to E.
coli b)
$17 (pandemics could cost from $ 71 to $167 Billion0)
$4 Billion in treatment costs and increasing (May be as high as
$30 Billion)d
$1 Billion0
$2 Billion1" (Target Budget for Africa?Actual is $545.5
million)
$80 Billion ($27 billion more in first two items)s'h
$14.5 Billion (2000 estimate up from $6.2 billion in 1990V
$75-97 Billion^
$189.5 billion ($64.2 billion medical costs, $115.3 lost
productivity)1
$86 billion ($51 billion in direct costs)1"
-$500 Billion
$5-10 Billion ajl
$154-720+ Million in direct and indirect costs a,n
$5.5 Billion
$20 Billion0
$329 Billion ($129 billion in lost productivity)p0 ($260 billion
from heart disease and stroke)q
80. $76.6 Billion
$48 Billion (excluding $22 billion in related heart disease/
$100 Billion ($4.5 billion in direct medical costs of related
diseases/
$132 Billion ($92 billion in direct costs)1
-660 Billion (rounding down for overlap)
$1.16 Trillion
Association of Texas 2004
aNSTC 1995
bUSDA 2002
c WHO 2003a
dNIAID2000
c American Lung
fWHO2004f
gNIH 1994
h Sandier et al 2002
'National Committee for Quality' Assurance 2001
j CDC 2004f
k American Lung Association 2004
'NIH 2002
mUSCB2004
"NIAID 1998
? Kaiser Family Foundation 2004
p WHO 2004b
qCDC-OC 1997
rNutristrategy 2004
SUS Health and Human Services 2002
tNDIC2002
Similarly, iron intake per person has been declining
during the past 10 years, especially in developing countries
(WHO 2004g). Globally, from 4 to 5 billion people are iron
deficient and 2 billion suffer from anemia (WHO 2004g).
Worldwide, an estimated 9 million deaths can be attributed
81. to iron deficiency (WHO 2004g). In addition, about 1.6
billion people live in iodine-deficient environments and
suffer from iodine deficiency disease (United Nations
2004). Iodine deficiency also causes mental disabilities in
children (United Nations 2004).
Malnutrition, complicated by parasitic infections, is
frequently found in poverty-stricken areas with inadequate
sanitation. In developing nations, more than one third of the
infectious disease burden is due to malnutrition (Mason et
al 2004). For children, malnutrition increases their suscep
tibility to infectious diseases and death by 42 to 57%
(Pelletier et al 1994). Malnourished individuals, especially
children, are seriously affected by parasitic infections
because these infections also reduce nutrient availability.
The presence of intestinal parasites frequently diminishes
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660 Hum Ecol (2007) 35:653-668
appetite and food intake, and also increases the loss of
nutrients by causing diarrhea and dysentery. Hookwomis,
for instance, can suck as much as 30 ml of blood from an
infected person each day, gradually weakening individuals
and lowering their resistance to other diseases (Hotez and
Pritchard 1995). Latham et al (1990) measured the caloric
gain that Kenyan schoolboys obtained once given treatment
82. to eliminate their multiple helminth infections. Based on
these data, it is possible to estimate the daily amount of
food intake that is necessary to offset the helminth
infections. The daily recommendation for children 9 to
13 years is about 2,000 kcal (Institute of Medicine 2002).
The Kenyan schoolboys gained about 86 kcal per meal per
day. At the average of three meals per day, this accounts for
a gain of 258 kcal once the helminth infection was
eradicated. Thus, prior to treatment, the schoolboys utilized
between 12 and 14% of their daily food intake to offset the
effects of their helminth infections which is probably
average. We estimate the range of food lost to parasitic
infections to be between 10 and 20% of an individual's
daily food intake.
Drug Resistance in Microbes
Drug resistance and rapid genetic changes in microbes
contribute to global disease outbreaks, diminishing the
ability of humans to successfully ward off or control
illness (NIAID 2004b). Many microbe types have evolved
resistance to antibiotics (Antibiotic Resistance 2004; Levy
and Marshall 2004). The bacteria resistant to antibiotics
cost the USA more than $4 billion in added treatments
and lost productivity each year (Table I). The evolution of
drug resistance in microbes can be surprisingly rapid. In
1979, only 6% of the European Pneumococcus strains were
resistant to penicillin, but one decade later that percentage
had grown to 44% (Platt 1996). Currently in the USA, more
than 90% of the Staphylo coccus aureus, one of the most
common disease-producing microbes, are resistant to
penicillin and similarly effective antibiotics (American
Society of Microbiology 1994). A study of 113 French
pig fanners reported that nasopharyngeal carnage of S.
aureus resistant to macrolide was more frequent in fanners
83. than non-farmers. The large-scale antibiotic use associated
with today's industrial livestock farming, in addition to
antibiotic dnig resistance in bacteria gaining entrance to the
human food chain, pose serious public health problems
(CDC 2005). Rapid increase in drug resistance by disease
organisms is caused by the widespread use and overuse
of 300 antibiotics by the medical profession (ASM
1994). In addition, eight times more antibiotics are used
in livestock production than are used to treat humans (UCS
2001). The concurrent overuse of antibiotics for both
humans and livestock enhances selection for drug
resistant microbes, further exacerbating the problem of
antibiotic resistance.
Reemerging Diseases
The worldwide increase in tuberculosis results from
population crowding and drug resistance. Currently an
estimated 2 billion people worldwide are infected with
TB, with an estimated 3 million deaths annually (NIAID
2002b; WHO 2004b). In the USA, an estimated 10 to 15
million people (mostly foreign-born nationals) are infected
with latent TB, but do not display the symptoms (NIAID
2002b).
Each year about 8 million people worldwide develop TB
(NIAID 2002b). Drug-resistant TB strains and reduced
medical treatment account for this increase. TB infections
are further complicated by the use of illegal drugs and the
rise of HIV infections, both of which help to spread the
disease and lead to frequent reinfection. Tuberculosis is
rapidly increasing in the Russian Federation. From 1990 to
2000, the number of reported cases per year has increased
84. from 51 to 90 per 100,000 people (CDC 2004e).
Influenza or flu is one of the most serious virus diseases
in the world. From 300 million to 900 million people are
infected with the flu which resulting in 250,000 to 500,000
deaths each year (WHO 2003a). In the USA, 200,000
people are hospitalized from the flu, with about 36,000
deaths each year (CDC 2004a). Another cause for concern
is avian influenza, a highly pathogenic form of the flu virus
that has passed from birds to humans in isolated cases, and
represents a potentially serious threat as it is particularly
deadly, with a mortality rate of 76% in recent human
outbreaks in Southeast Asia (WHO 2005a).
The flu costs the USA about $17 billion per year in
medical and lost productivity costs each year (Table I). Flu
vaccine to treat one person costs about $10.40; thus,
everyone in the USA could be treated at a cost of $3.1
billion (Stanford 2004). However, a flu pandemic in the
USA could cost the nation from $71 to $167 billion in
health care and lost productivity costs (WHO 2003a).
Brucellosis is another resurgent communicable disease.
The causative bacteria, Brucella spp., infect cattle, sheep,
goats, and some wild mammals worldwide and are
harbored in an animal's udder. Humans usually contract
the disease from infected animals or contaminated dairy
products. Roth et al (2003) report that the number of cases
of brucellosis is increasing, especially in developing
countries, with about 360,000 cases reported per year.
Newly Emerging Diseases
Changes in biological diversity, evolution of parasites, and
invasion by exotic species all frequently result in disease