By David Nicholas
The world took note this week of the population reaching seven billion.
A new book points to projections of a population of nine billion by the middle of this century, and its author said our impact on the planet is significant enough to reflect the book's title, "The God Species."
Mark Lynas said his publisher National Geographic was hesitant about, in his words, "using the God metaphor," but Lynas said he believes it illustrates the affect humans have had...
"We all know how the atmosphere has had its chemistry changed because of human release of CO2 - that's changing the acidity of the oceans. You know, we've changed the color of the skies because of our aerosol emissions. We've obviously dramatically changed the way the land surface is used because so much of it is now not suited to grow crops."
Lynas puts forth the idea that there are so-called "planetary boundaries." He contends that historical demand and consumption of resources has put an increasing strain of earth's capacities. Were there not to be any change, Lynas believes there would be irreversible harm to the planet.
But he also said that worldwide economic growth, albeit interrupted by the downturn since 2008, is an overall positive sign because Lynas said, with such growth has come more cooperative efforts to develop better environmental practices.
Lynas' book, published by National Geographic, is called "The God Species: Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans." CMU Public Radio News reached him at his home in Oxford, England.
The world took note this week of the population reaching seven billion.
A new book points to projections of a population of nine billion by the middle of this century, and its author said our impact on the planet is significant enough to reflect the book's title, "The God Species."
Mark Lynas said his publisher National Geographic was hesitant about, in his words, "using the God metaphor," but Lynas said he believes it illustrates the affect humans have had...
"We all know how the atmosphere has had its chemistry changed because of human release of CO2 - that's changing the acidity of the oceans. You know, we've changed the color of the skies because of our aerosol emissions. We've obviously dramatically changed the way the land surface is used because so much of it is now not suited to grow crops."
Lynas puts forth the idea that there are so-called "planetary boundaries." He contends that historical demand and consumption of resources has put an increasing strain of earth's capacities. Were there not to be any change, Lynas believes there would be irreversible harm to the planet.
But he also said that worldwide economic growth, albeit interrupted by the downturn since 2008, is an overall positive sign because Lynas said, with such growth has come more cooperative efforts to develop better environmental practices.
Lynas' book, published by National Geographic, is called "The God Species: Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans." CMU Public Radio News reached him at his home in Oxford, England.