tortenelem - Korunk problémái

Víztározó fejlesztés

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:25:00 +0000

Former old-growth forest leveled for reservoir development, Willamette National Forest, Oregon

Reservoir development

‘What an irony it is that these living beings whose shade we sit in, whose fruit we eat, whose limbs we climb, whose roots we water, to whom most of us rarely give a second thought, are so poorly understood. We need to come, as soon as possible, to a profound understanding and appreciation for trees and forests and the vital role they play, for they are among our best allies in the uncertain future that is unfolding.’

Tehenek és füst

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:23:00 +0000

Ground zero in the war on nature – cattle graze among the burning Amazon jungle in Brazil

Cows and smoke

‘Throughout history human exploitation of the earth has produced this progression: colonise-destroy-move on.’

Tarvágás

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:21:00 +0000

Sometimes called the Brazil of the North, Canada has not been kind to its native forests as seen by clear-cut logging on Vancouver Island

British Columbia clear-cut

‘Human domination over nature is quite simply an illusion, a passing dream by a naive species. It is an illusion that has cost us much, ensnared us in our own designs, given us a few boasts to make about our courage and genius, but all the same it is an illusion.’

Szeméthullám

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:18:00 +0000

Indonesian surfer Dede Surinaya catches a wave in a remote but garbage-covered bay on Java, Indonesia, the world’s most populated island

Trash wave

‘Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.’

Plázák

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:16:00 +0000

Consumer culture spreads to the global south

South City Mall in Kolkata, India

‘In the developing world, the problem of population is seen less as a matter of human numbers than of western over-consumption. Yet within the development community, the only solution to the problems of the developing world is to export the same unsustainable economic model fuelling the overconsumption of the West.'

Olajkutak

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:14:00 +0000

Depleting oil fields are yet another symptom of ecological overshoot as seen at the Kern River Oil Field in California

Oil wells

‘I don’t understand why when we destroy something created by man we call it vandalism, but when we destroy something created by nature we call it progress.’

Olaj a tűzre

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:12:00 +0000

Aerial view of an oil fire following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico

Oil spill fire

‘We must realise that not only does every area have a limited carrying capacity, but also that this carrying capacity is shrinking and the demand growing. Until this understanding becomes an intrinsic part of our thinking and wields a powerful influence on our formation of national and international policies we are scarcely likely to see in what direction our destiny lies.’

Nyomornegyed a hegyoldalban

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:10:00 +0000

Slum-dwelling residents of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, face bleak living conditions in the western hemisphere’s poorest country

Hill-side slum

‘Squatters trade physical safety and public health for a few square meters of land and some security against eviction. They are the pioneer settlers of swamps, floodplains, volcano slopes, unstable hillsides, rubbish mountains, chemical dumps, railroad sidings, and desert fringes ... such sites are poverty’s niche in the ecology of the city, and very poor people have little choice but to live with disaster.’

Szögletes mezők

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:08:00 +0000

No room for nature, the entire landscape is devoted to crop production in China

Rectangular fields

‘Globalisation, which attempts to amalgamate every local, regional, and national economy into a single world system, requires homogenising locally adapted forms of agriculture, replacing them with an industrial system – centrally managed, pesticide-intensive, one-crop production for export – designed to deliver a narrow range of transportable foods to the world market.’

Halott madár

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:05:00 +0000

On Midway Atoll, far from the centres of world commerce, an albatross, dead from ingesting too much plastic, decays on the beach – it is a common sight on the remote island

Dead bird

‘Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals – the same fate awaits them both; as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath.’