Consuming Natural Resources
"Many signs and portends give evidence that we have entered the century of the environment, during which humanity must settle down or else wreck the planet. The human population is now well past 6 billion and according to best estimates on its way to 9 to 10 billion before peaking. At the same time, per capita consumption is rising. Even at the present levels of population and consumption, planetary resources may be strained beyond sustainability. The ecological footprint—the amount of productive land appropriated on average by each person for food, water, habitation, transportation, waste disposal, government and nongovernmental activity—is 5.2 acres. For each American it is 24 acres. For every person in the world to reach American levels of consumption would require four more planet Earths."
from E. O. Wilson, 2002. How to Save Biodiversity. The Nature Conservancy, Spring 2001, p 88.
This is just one of many panes in the WindowView. This is a fraction of the process identified earlier within the section entitled 'Convergence.' Keep exploring the view, visit our page titled 'Experience WindowView' to see how global changes are part of a larger holistic paradigm which is the reason behind assembling this cyber-place. Putting the picture together helps to envision humanity's direction along the dimension of time.
A copy of this text with footnotes and a complete listing of references used in writing this text can be obtained by downloading the chapters and reference list for the Creator's Window. References that appear as ''(SXi #)'' signify the page number from Sigma Xi's publication related to a 1991 forum on global change (see reference list for the Creator's Window for a complete citation of this work).
The importance to global change is in looking at how social, biological, and physical sciences all reveal data and signs for more ominous changes in the near future. This is change in every aspect of human and earthly affairs ... globally. The Window looks further to see change as a backdrop to a biblical timeline. Driving forces for change force us to ask the most important questions about our true origin, who we are, why we are here, and what the Scriptures tell us about the future. Change forces us to look deeper to face choice or crisis. Life is an opportunity to look for the answers.
