ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

It is only in the moment of time represented by the present century that one species has acquired the power to alter the nature of the world.                                     -Rachel Carson                                  Silent Spring(1962)

THIS IS OUR ONLY HOME. . .

TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT.

IN THE NEWS

THE ECOLOGY (MERCY, MERCY ME) Woo ah, mercy mercy me Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no Where did all the blue skies go? Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east Woo mercy, mercy me, mercy father Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas, fish full of mercury Ah oh mercy, mercy me Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no Radiation under ground and in the sky Animals and birds who live nearby all die Oh mercy, mercy me Ah things ain't what they used to be What about this overcrowded land How much more abuse from man can she stand? Written by: Brian Holland/Lamont Dozier/Edward Holland, Jr. Performed by: Marvin Gaye

A Secular Parable

Imagine our species as a village of 100 families.  Then, 65 families in our village are illiterate and 90 do not speak English, 70 have no drinking water at home, 80 have no members who have ever flown in an airplane.  Seven families own 60 percent of the land and consume 80 percent of all the available energy.  They have all the luxuries.  Sixty families are crowded onto 10 percent of the land.  Only one family has any member with a university education.  And the air and the water, the climate and the blistering sunlight, are all getting worse.  What is our common responsiblility?                                                             -Quoted by Carl Sagan                                                             in "Billions and Billions"