Williston Outlines A Danger Surrounding The Growth And Global Interconnection Of The Human Race

In this case study Williston outlines a danger surrounding the growth and global interconnection of the human race. As our population continually consumes, we separate ourselves from the natural world and often endanger local ecosystems in the process. The grizzly bears of British Columbia have become hunted on a large scale for the purpose of trophy. This is inherently tied to the assumptions we make of ourselves. As humans, we often fail to understand that nature and ourselves are essentially linked. We believe that human ingenuity gives us the ability to control nature. As explained in the chapter, ingenuity can be thought of as a non-finite resource that makes the idea of “finite resources” meaningless. From the economist perspective,

Sometimes, these alternative means create further environmental damage. This is the main problem I have with the economist approach to population and consumption. For example, in the chapter Williston talks about the oil sands of Alberta. When the world’s oil reserves inevitably do dry up what will we do? The alternative (and economist approach) to conventional oil would be to extract it from oil sands. Extracting oil from the sands requires a massive amount of energy. This process also creates large environmental issues for the surrounding area. By 2015, 196,000 tonnes of green-house gases will be emitted into the atmosphere; as well as the large amount of fresh water that is required for the process alone (324). The extent of environmental issues with this practice is enormous, but this instance itself shows the absurdity when we take the economist approach seriously. When faced with a resource shortage, we need to stop thinking of only alternatives but also think of the reason for the shortage. If we can create sustainable resources while also controlling population and consumption then hopefully we can pull ourselves out of an inevitable environmental