ABSTRACT
As we approach the fourth decade of ecological consciousness and scientific concern about the degradation of the earth’s life support systems, the evidence is mounting that the unprecedented level of public concern and activist effort which these decades have seen is not being reflected in adequate, effective or stable forms of change at the political level. Although ecological consciousness has some successes to its credit in the form of better standards and regulations, and
even in some areas better practices, these are themselves under constant threat. What is more significant, however, is that even these hard-earned measures have done little to arrest the ever-accelerating progress of environmental degradation. David Orr outlines this progress:
If today is a typical day on planet earth, we will lose 116 square miles of rainforest, or about an acre a second. We will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, the results of human mismanagement and overpopulation. We will lose 40 to 250 species, and no one knows whether the number is 40 or 250. Today the human population will increase by 250, 000. And today we will add 2,700 tons of chlorofluorocarbons and 15 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Tonight the earth will be a little hotter, its waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare.
