The IBHA was pleased to participate in the latest initiative of the NoRCEL group. Their inaugural Blue Earth Project event brought together eminent scientists from around the World who will put forward their theories and ideas to address problems facing humans and ecological survival.
Lowell Gustafson’s presentation starts off NoRCEL’s Blue Earth Project, in which we ask: “Is humanity settling its own fate on ecological survival?”. What challenges does the rise in global human population pose for the future of humanity by changing the ecology and environment of our home planet Earth? To try and address these serious issues, we are hosting a one-day online forum, involving experts shining a light on this issue from various perspectives. This latest initiative of the NoRCEL group brings together eminent scientists from around the World who will put forward their theories and ideas to address this question.
Life is subject to continuous co-evolution with its environment. While planet Earth provides the conditions that permit life to exist, life itself alters these conditions. This process regularly involves the extinction of species. Does humanity sit on a branch of life that will continue to evolve, or on an unsuccessful branch of evolution? To what extent do we settle our own fate?
Humans cannot live directly from rocks, water, and sunlight, but depend on an elaborate and well-balanced biosystem, containing a diversity of fauna, flora, and plenty of microorganisms. This balance is under threat. Not only do we need to be concerned about the disappearance of many of our fellow creatures from the face of the Earth, but we also see an unprecedented growth of the human population. How much pressure on the ecosystem do we exert by raising population levels from 3 billion in 1960 to about 8 billion now and further rising, and can this be sustained by the finite resources of planet Earth and the processes that ultimately keep us alive? Where would this growth need to be stopped? What damage has already been caused and can that be mitigated?