The Earth flag is not an official flag, since there is no official governing body over Earth. The flag holds a photo transfer of a NASA image of the Earth on a dark blue background. It has been associated with Earth Day. Although the flag was originally copyrighted, a judge ruledhttp://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/CopyrightLaw/Copyrightability/articles/EarthFlagVsAlamoFlag_A.shtml that the copyright was invalid. Earth Flag Ltd. v. Alamo Flag Co., 154 F. Supp. 2d 663 (S.D.N.Y. 2001) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The population of the world is growing rapidly. Along with the vast numbers of poorly-fed people, this increases the risk of widespread epidemics. The melting of the Himalayan snows threatens the food supply of 1.6 billion people and may lead to mass migrations.
“Climate disruption, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, toxification of the planet. The potential impacts of nuclear war, and social and economic inequities that impede solutions to escalating environmental problems” are the major problems which face man today. The solutions are clear, however little has been done to enact them.
Fifteen international climate change conferences have resulted in no significant change in greenhouse gases and no useful agreements. Our elected politicians have little or no knowledge of science or our planetary problems. Because so little progress has been made against these problems, a group of scientists have organized the “Millennium Assessment of Human Behavior (MAHB) to understand human behavior and change it.
We know that consumption patterns are possible almost overnight, as evidenced by the huge changes which were made during World War II in a very short time. For example, gasoline, sugar, and meat rationing were accepted by Americans. We need a better understanding of the nature of human behavior to mobilize society today to take similar actions.
MAHB intends to attack these problems, such as reducing the size of the human population. Corporations must accept some social responsibility. If corporations continue to insist on continual ultimate growth, then capitalism will cease to exist.
CONCLUSION: MAHB’s goal is to change human behavior to avert the collapse of our global civilization. The organization started at Stanford University. Check their website at:
NOTE: *”Ecosystem services” is a concept promoted by the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report from over 1000 scientists. The ecosystem services are benefits to humans from our ecosystem. Included are providing clean drinking water, decomposition of wastes, providing food and crop pollination. Ecosystem services are assigned economic values to help inform policymakers.
The author of this article, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, has been a leader in speaking out on environmental issues for decades. If you are interested in making a difference, join MAHB today.
To read the author’s abstract of the article, click on the title of the article. Then, to read the full article, click on the full text icon.
PMID: 20386722.
Summary #643.
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