Rob Hengeveld

In looking at the Natural Processes of our world, the author discusses the biological systems as they are relevant to the future of the planet. He examines the cycles of nature before moving on to the Ongoing Processes in the Human Population of planet Earth. Part of the Growing Problem of Mankind is population growth. This growth concerns both agricultural production and industrial production. The eventual truth in the discussion of these factors is that the paths we’ve chosen have led us into even greater difficulties, leaving us with a problem that requires an immediate solution. With a world population that has almost tripled since the 1970s, the problems have grown exponentially, leaving us ever closer to the point of resource exhaustion.

Following this discussion, the author examines Exhausting and Wasting Our Resources where, among other issues, the author discusses the problem of landfills overflowing with manmade, non-biodegradable waste. As far as resources are concerned, when we’ve used them up. They are gone. Likewise, when the freshwater is gone, there is no magic wand to wave and produce more. Pollution in the air is warming the climate, bringing about changes that could lead to catastrophe. As deforestation degrades continents, there is a loss in biodiversity; as the demand for agricultural land and wood and for timber increases, the inevitable result is world-wide, total destruction of the forests.

Will the demands of population growth and infrastructure lead to society’s collapse? What will happen if the overpopulation of the planet continues at its current rate? Can there be another [brighter] future for our world?

Thought-provoking and urgent in its message, this is an edict no one should ignore. Yes, it seems heavy-handed; yes, it is frustrating in that there are more problems than there seem to be solutions for them [or, at least solutions people are willing to try]. It’s depressing, but ignoring the science presented here will not make the problems vanish. This is the future for our world unless we become proactive in addressing these issues.

A selected bibliography follows the text; all readers should take time to explore the problems and the possible solutions for changing the dire predictions currently facing humanity.

Highly recommended.… (plus d'informations)

The author ties together several essential big long-term issues with good science and modeling. He draws on ecology, anthropology, archaeology, human history, and economics, all of which he has had experience. All statements are documented either within the text, or/and in the bibliography.

The factual context and modeling are so dense it takes time following and digesting the path of the text, but everything checks out. It is well written and well organized. Climate change is brought within a larger context as a symptom of a larger problem. This is an insight on the inter-relationships the author follows up on throughout the book, with sustainability, pollution, depletion of essential resources, and history, both prior to recorded history(archaeology) and recorded history.

The result is a very serious picture of what humans must do during the 21st century, and of what likelihood humans have of actually committing to the effort in an adequate way.

I put this book in the category of Erlich's Population Bomb, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, and Al Gore's An inconvenient Truth. In a way it is above them since it ties each of those author's themes together.

The author is a heavyweight thinker and an experienced scientist. Expect good presentation but deep complex ecological and anthropological models and principles as well as some more commonly known economic principles. Expect few photos or illustrations. Considerable time will be necessary by most of us to assimilate all the principles and history covered between the covers of this book. Expect this book to take at least twice as long to finish as most of a similar length but also expect to gain valuable knowledge you can apply.… (plus d'informations)

This book started out badly, with the author continually repeating himself, the same information over and over. It got worse. When he couldn't get human population patterns wrong the same way twice, I should have ended, but I pushed forward. In the end, about halfway through the book, I'd had enough of someone not able to get basic things right, so when he proposed that the Mississippi River is almost to the point of not reaching the sea, I decided to write off the hours I'd put into this book as a mistaken waste of precious life time, and set it aside. Life's too short to read bad books. I don't recommend this one at all.… (plus d'informations)