What is an Ecodisaster?
- 1 January 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Environmental Conservation
- Vol. 4 (1) , 66-68
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s037689290002508x
Abstract
The term ‘ecodisaster’ may be defined as ‘a global catastrophe of the human species’. Any ecodisasters occurring in the near future will, almost certainly, be caused, directly or indirectly, by the present overpopulation of the world, accompanied by unwise and irresponsible disregard of environmental deterioration. The suggestion is made here that Man's first and, it is to be hoped, last, ecodisaster may already have begun. Although not dramatic, it is taking the form of a steady decline in the standard of living nearly everywhere, coupled with massive pollution, and widespread malnutrition in the under-developed countries of the world. It will persist until world population eventually becomes adjusted to environmental resources. It is ironical that control of the pests and diseases which have inflicted so much misery on mankind in the past, should have helped to engender the present population explosion with all the hunger and privation that accompany it in the under-developed regions of the world.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Primary production, isotopes, extinctions and the atmospherePublished by Elsevier ,2003
- Eight Thousand Million People by the Year 2010?Environmental Conservation, 1975
- Thoughts on Some Conceivable EcodisastersEnvironmental Conservation, 1974