The Laws of Ecology and the Survival of the Human Species

In the Sixties we did not buy water in plastic bottles.  In the Sixties the word ‘sustainable ‘was never used in an ecological context, and except for Rachel Carson, there were very few with the vision to see into the future, where we were going, what we were doing.

But slowly, awareness crept into the psyche of more and more people.  People began to understand what the word ecology meant.  We saw the creation of Earth Day, and in 1972, the first global meeting on the environment in Stockholm, Sweden that I covered as a journalist.

Gradually, the insight into what were doing became more prevalent and to those who understood, the price to be paid was to be labeled radicals, militants, and a new word - eco-terrorist.

The real “crime” of eco-terrorism was not burning down a ski lodge, toppling a power line or spiking a tree.  Such things are only outbursts of desperation and frustration.  The real crime of eco-terrorism was having thought, perception, and imagination.  In other words, the questioning of the modern economic, corporate and political paradigm.

The word eco-terrorism should be more accurately used for the destruction caused by progress like the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal or the BP Deep Water Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the Seventies, the late Robert Hunter, along with Roberta Hunter, Dr. Patrick Moore, David Garrick, Rod Marining and myself observed and wrote down the three laws of ecology.  What we realized was that these laws are the key to the survival of biodiversity on the planet and also the key to the survival of the human species.  We realized that no species could survive outside of the three basic and imperative ecological laws.

• The law of diversity:  The strength of an eco-system is dependent upon the diversity of species within it.
• The law of interdependence:  All species are interdependent with each other.
• The law of finite resources:  There are limits to growth and limits to carrying capacity.

The increase of population in one species leads to the increase in consumption of resources by that species.  This leads to diminishment of diversity of other species, which in turn leads to diminishment of interdependence among species. 

Read more at The Laws of Ecology and the Survival of the Human Species