ABSTRACT
What shortsightedness and overestimation of ourselves to believe that the world has been created just for the sake of man ; and that our obligations are restricted to picking and enjoying the fruits, and to multiply ! What arrogance to claim that we are the crown of creation ! Such a conclusion could perhaps be drawn from Moses 1 :28 and 1 :29 : “Be fertile and become many. Fill the land and conquer it. Dominate the sh of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every beast that walks the land. Behold, I have given you every seed bearing plant on the face of the earth, and every tree that has seed bearing fruit. It shall be to you for food”. ese words had been written more than 3000 years before the limits of growth became frightfully apparent. It does not take much foresight to predict a nite lifetime of human civilization, provided we continue our present lifestyle and are not willing to make major concessions for preserving our living grounds. Soon, fossil energy will be gone ; soon, the oceans will be devoid of any eatable sh ; soon, the water level in many counties
by Richard R. Ernst
will be too low to pump out sucient drinking water or even water for irrigation ; soon, the fertility of the over-exploited elds will start to decrease at a dangerous rate ; soon, the man-made climate change will be too rapid and radical to permit us to take proper remedies ; soon, antibiotics needed to prevent epidemics become ineective ; soon, the gap between the rich and the poor will become suciently large to lead to unrest on a global scale. A truly doomsday scenario is inevitable unless we drastically change our attitudes ! Changes are needed in our educational endeavors as outlined in Part 1, as well as in the relations of the university to society as discussed in Part 2.
