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An Unsustainable Paradigm Part 1

An Unsustainable Paradigm Part 1. Michael R. Edelstein, Ph.D. . Blind Effects. “On our present course, by E.O. Wilson’s estimate, half of all plant and animal species could be extinct by 2100 — that is, within the lifetime of a child born today….

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An Unsustainable Paradigm Part 1

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  1. An Unsustainable ParadigmPart 1 Michael R. Edelstein, Ph.D.

  2. Blind Effects “On our present course, by E.O. Wilson’s estimate, half of all plant and animal species could be extinct by 2100 — that is, within the lifetime of a child born today…. So it’s startling to discover that the very idea of extinction was unthinkable, even heresy, only a few lifetimes ago.” Richard Conniff, “Lost and Gone Forever” NYT FEBRUARY 3, 2011

  3. The Buffalo Hunt

  4. Before European Invasion • The Prairie Biome http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourFames.cgi?tour_id=14051 • 75 million buffalo ranged prairie BWM. Migrate over 100 sq. miles for water and food in herds of 1,000 under alpha bull • Herds stampede ex, Coronado 1541 saw them fill an entire ravine • Natural threats wolves, coyote, bear and lion, grass fire and freeze

  5. Human Ecology---Plains Indian • Nomads in search of Buffalo • Commanche see which way horned toad hop • Hunt by running down herd or infiltrating in hide • Women skinned and tanned with brains • Buffalo provided food, hide, teepee, tools, toys and ornaments. Use everything. Pemican. • Animism. Tongue eaten in post-hunt feast; smoke blown in 6 directions • Happy Hunting Ground---heaven + buffalo • Not imagine world without buffalo

  6. Enter the Europeans • Buffalo main food on plains. Thirst/warmth. • “A stake cooked on chips needs no pepper.” • Whites join hunt in 1830s, reduce to 40 m. • Threaten Indians---Buffalo wars 1860s • 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge trade reservation life for saving Buffalo. • 1871 Buffalo became commercially valuable; by 1883 nearly all destroyed.

  7. Factors • Trade in Buffalo Robes with hair • Trains---sports hunting excursions • Ham and tongue became delicacy in US • New arsenic tanning technique 1870s made hides valuable. • End of Civil War---unemployment. Hunt drew hundreds. • Sharps 50 cal rifle 1872---kill from stand at 600 yards. • U.S. wanted Indians confined to reservations • Ranchers wanted prairie cleared.

  8. First Conservation Movement • Commander Richard Dodge, Fort Dodge: • “I have counted 112 carcasses of buffalo inside a semicircle of 200 yards radius, all of which were killed by one man from one spot in less than ¾ hour.” • By 1873, hunters left for Texas, then Dakotas. • Movement to stop slaughter, SPCA, soldiers • Territorial legislation---too late except Nebraska -1875 • 1879 hunt uneconomical • By 1883 less than 1,000 Buffalo remained • Bones then used for fertilizer and sugar, once picked up, only wallows remained

  9. Human Ecology • Frederick Clements described the sustainable relationship between prairie, buffalo and Indian as a Human Ecology. • The North American Grasslands biome was a climax stage of an arid region exposed to dry winds and shallow rainfall. • Plains Indian and Buffalo were partners in a stable ecological association there • White men destroyed the stabile climax ecosystem

  10. DISTORTED VALUES • Frontier Society vs. Sustainable Society • Colonization versus maturity • Engineering Fallacy: Use of technology to extend control beyond natural limits • Economic fallacy: Utilitarian values of economic system applied to all relationships, ignoring externalities • Confusion of Capital and Nature • “Natural resource” • Commodification of nature

  11. Distorted Values 2 • Homocentric vs biocentric shift • Replace Buffalo in ecosystem with controlled and owned cattle as resource • Man Over Nature vs Part of It • Ambient vs environment • Lynn White’s thesis

  12. Proof of Lynn White’s Thesis

  13. Dominant Social Paradigm • Man is above and outside nature • Nature is a resource at man’s disposal • Growth and Progress are perpetual • Technology solves all problems • Individual Interests over Community • Rich and Poor get what they deserve • Na Na Na Na Na Na Live for today

  14. Lester Ward, 1893, the Psychic Factors of Civilization Experts must plan (no laissez faire) Organize nature where it is inefficient (ex. winding rivers) Engineer a paradise on earth This is our moral imperative (we are over the primitive and ape). We can pacify nature by expanding the Garden of Eden through a moral equivalent of war. Later Technocrats Movement in U.S.

  15. THE Unsustainable Paradigm CONTINUED ON PART 2

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