E-Book Overview
All systems produce waste as part of a cycle—bacteria, humans, combustion engines, even one as large and complex as a city. To some extent, this waste can be absorbed, processed, or recycled—though never completely. In Wasted World, Rob Hengeveld reveals how a long history of human consumption has left our world drowning in this waste.This is a compelling and urgent work that traces the related histories of population growth and resource consumption. As Hengeveld explains, human life (and population growth) depends not only on mineral resources but also on energy. People first obtained energy from food and later supplemented this with energy from water, wind, and animals as one source after another fell short of our ever-growing needs. Finally, we turned to fossil energy, which generates atmospheric waste that is the key driver of global climate change. The effects of this climate change are already leading to food shortages and social collapse in some parts of the world. Because all of these problems are interconnected, Hengeveld argues strenuously that measures to counter individual problems cannot work. Instead, we need to tackle their common cause—our staggering population growth. While many scientists agree that population growth is one of the most critical issues pressuring the environment, Hengeveld is unique in his insistence on turning our attention to the waste such growth leaves in its wake and to the increasing demands of our global society. A practical look at the sustainability of our planet from the perspective of a biologist whose expertise is in the abundances and distributions of species, Wasted World presents a fascinating picture of the whole process of using, wasting, and exhausting energy and material resources. And by elucidating the complexity of the causes of our current global state, Hengeveld offers us a way forward.
E-Book Content
w as ted world The Universi ty of C hi c ag o Press Chicago and Londo n rob hengeveld is affiliated with the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Department of Animal Ecology at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, where he was an honorary professor, and with the Centre for Ecosystem Studies at Wageningen UR. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2012 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2012. Printed in the United States of America 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 isbn-13: 978-0-226-32699-3 (cloth) isbn-10: 0-226-32699-3 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hengeveld, Rob. Unlivable Earth : how our consumption challenges the planet / Rob Hengeveld. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-226-32699-3 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-226-32699-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Nature— Effect of human beings on. 2. Population— Environmental aspects. 3. Waste products— Environmental aspects. 4. Waste minimization. I. Title. gf75.h45 2012 304.2′8—dc23 2011025255 This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). To Claire, who asked me to write this book, and to Eke, Sytse, and Ilona, who have to live with it Conte nts Introduction PART 1 ix N A T URA L P RO C E S S E S 1 1. The Nature of Life: Making Waste 2. Nature Goes in Cycles PART 2 3 15 ON G OI N G P RO C E S S E S I N T H E H UMA N PO PU LA TION i. popu l at io n growth and its l im itation s 25 A. The Growing Problem of Mankind 27 3. Population Growth and Agricultural Production 4. Population Growth and Industrial Production 47 5. Agribusiness and Corporate States 57 B. Exhausting and Wasting Our Resources 71 6. Peak Oil and Beyond 7. Limited Resources 8. Man-Made Waste <