GNP and Nature

by Bill Denneen .. August 8, 2000

We evolved in a 'natural world'. We are a product of this 'natural world'. We are creating a different/plastic/synthetic world that is very different from that in which we evolved. Is this the direction/limb that we want to be on?

Once in a great while I meet someone that actually LIKES the LA Megalopolis but typically the response is something like: what a terrible/nasty place. I call it the 'LA-cancer' with polluted air, polluted water, excess sewage, social pathology and a culture supersaturated with cars. Is this the direction/limb that we want to be on?

This 'LA-cancer' is metastasizing north. It can be seen daily with increased traffic, noise, pollution, construction, stop lights, even a proposed new city (Woodlands) ....we call this 'progress'.

Our GNP looks great. Our prosperity couldn't be better. We have had the longest period of prosperity/growth/progress/economic expansion than ever before. It certainly has been a great decade (at least in the US). Unemployment is way down and everyone is making big bucks. My elder advice is to enjoy it while it lasts as it just can not continue much longer.

We are liquidating our 'natural capital'---the resources and ecosystem services that make possible all of life----the habitat in which our species evolved. Is this the direction/limb that we want to be on?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) and National Monetary Fund (NMF) are attempts to spread this terminal direction to the entire planet. It is the reason for the big recent demonstrations in Seattle and Washington. It pleased me that so many concerned citizens(e.g. Jeremy Simer) realized where we are headed and suggest we get off the limb we seem to be climbing on.

Prosperity is high and we SEEM to be doing great (while out habitat falls apart). In California alone we have destroyed over 91% of our wetlands, cut down over 90% of our redwoods,turned Oceano Beach into a road, destroyed most of our grasslands, turned the LA megalopolis into a bio-sink...... a place in my opinion unfit for human habitation. If you disagree with the latter I urge you to move (back)to LA---reverse the invasion.

Why are wetlands important? They are critical habitat for high biodiversity: one third of our endangered species, a myriad of waterfowl, migratory songbirds and other wildlife. They clean the air, recharge groundwater supplies, purify water that flows through them, control floods and are nurseries for the seas. Wetlands are vital to the economic and environmental health of our nation, yet they are being lost at the alarming rate of 300,000 acres per year with local examples of Guadalupe Lakes, Point Sal Dunes & west, Betteravia Lakes, Orcutt Creek, Oso Flaco Creek, Cienaga Valley, Nipomo Creek, Solomon Creek, and Pismo Marsh.

As we've concentrated on building an ever-larger economy our carbon emissions have increased over 10% in the last 10 years resulting in (now fact) global warming. During this decade of incredible prosperity we have squandered the time during which we could have started the transition to some other sort of energy future. Oil is a finite fossil fuel whose price can only go up and up to the $5. a gallon as in Europe today . Corporations tell us we 'need' bigger, more luxurious cars to clog our culture. Corporations tell us happiness is an SUV/OHV with our 'right' to drive on the beach. America leads but where are we headed? Is this really the direction/limb that we want to be on? Rate of extinction is an indicator of habitat change. Extinction is a natural part of evolution on this planet. It is normally a rare obscure event with a "background" rate of 5-10 species per year. By contrast, scientists estimate that recent extinction rates have soared to over 1,000/year and maybe as high as 10,000/year. We are living in a period of "mass extinction" with the last such period 65 million years ago----the end of the Mesozoic Era.

Our numbers explode. World population now exceeds 6 billion which is over three times what it was in one lifetime (mine). Some may say this is due to the Catholic Church---not true. Italy, Spain, France, Germany are not even replacing themselves; their birth rates are less than their death rates. In the US this explosion is due mainly to immigration from countries such as Mexico where the birth rate is six times the death rate. According to the Census Bureau, our population will surpass 500 million by 2050 if the current rate of immigration, legal and illegal, continues. Is this the direction/limb we want to be on?

If we double our 1970 population by midcentury, how will we cope with the pollution, urban sprawl, overcrowded schools and jails, and potential shortage of food in many areas? The Central Coast is a semi-arid area with plenty of salt water but very limited fresh/potable water. State water is already over subscribed and not available during drought. Cutting immigration and reducing teen pregnancy (much needed in Santa Maria)are two controllable factors in our population growth. We must get our heads out of the sand, see where we are headed and change direction.

I look on my environmental activism as "pay back" for the education that my country has given me(G.I.Bill). I so hope my views are wrong but my education has given me a glum view of the future.

'Environmental extremists' which I have often been called, have not created the problem; they are just trying to alert citizens to a 'clear and present danger'.

Bill Denneen
1040 Cielo Lane, Nipomo, CA.,93444