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You Can Never Merely Do One Thing |
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An audio recording of a lecture given at the Centre for Human Ecology by Dr. Ulrich Loening, introduced by John Smythe. The lecture examines ways in which society might progress towards ecological sustainability, from a scientific and ecological standpoint. Dr. Loening discusses the fact that nature is complex, as is human society and any action will have lots of consequences. He demonstrates this primarily through the example of nitrate fertiliser use which began in the mid 19th century, and how this led to an imbalance within the ecosystem of a single field studied over a thirty year period. Plants took up soluble nitrate fertiliser, to the point of being over-full of nutrients, which encouraged pests as there was more for them to eat. This, in turn necessitated pesticides to control pests and disease, which killed the pests but left more food for future pests and so on - a vicious cycle stemming from what is ostensibly one action. The thought processes behind this are discussed; it is presented that in western society, there is a tendency for linear thinking; looking for direct causes to direct effects in terms which can be easily compartmentalised, and Loening traces this back to traditional creationist beliefs. Loening presents the argument that it is necessary to view the world in a more coherent and dynamic way; agriculture consists of lots of ‘one’ things where every one single action often has multiple and damaging effects; genetically engineered crops are given as an example. Ideas for solutions based on organic farming are put forward, with the emphasis on hopes for a new system based on better ecological understanding. A well presented lecture, in plain English, with minimal jargon, of interest to a wide audience, perhaps from GCSE level and upward. An overhead projector is referred to at various stages but the audio alone is sufficient to clearly understand the points being made. This audio recording lasts 1 hour 2 minutes and 44 seconds.
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| Creators: |
Speaker - Loening, Dr. Ulrich
Speaker - Smythe, John
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Subject: |
Agriculture, Environment
Science
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| Contributors: |
Centre for Human Ecology - Copyright Holder
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Date created:
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06 / 11 / 2003
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Language:
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English
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Country:
Region:
City:
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United Kingdom
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Rights:
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Community Media Association has non exclusive rights for the use of the work in The Showcase, but the overall copyright rests with the Centre for Human Ecology. Copyright the Centre for Human Ecology.
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If your browser can’t display the graphical link above to the translator, you may translate this page by going to the Babelfish website and pasting the address for this page into the box marked “Translate a web page”. |
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