Renewable Resources A Report to the Committee on Natural Resources of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (1962) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
Pages 1-18
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
It will become obvious that such a sharp delineation of the topic is purely artificial and provisional, although a practical necessity, and calls for the eventual restitution of the temporarily isolated segment into the integral fabric of the total problem of man in his relations to his environment ("HumanEcology")
|
From page 2... ...
At any rate, so vast is the store of available knowledge residing in the printed records, as well as in the aggregate experience of experts actively engaged in this field, that it would be utterly presumptuous for a sampling examination, such as the one underlying this report, to make any pretense at comprehensiveness or depth of penetration. Even so, certain common denominators have emerged with such regularity and clarity that they can be put forward as general conclusions with a high degree of confidence.
|
From page 3... ...
Even if population growth could be more safely forecast, per capita consumption would be less predictable because of its dependence on such indeterminably variable factors as general economic growth, education, public health practices, increased leisure time, etc. It must be borne in mind that the trend to sedentary habits and the replacement of physical labor by automation, as well as medical considerations, will influence both caloric intake and selection of foods, while higher living standards and growing concern with social welfare will increase the per capita demand for fibers as used in textiles, building materials, paper, etc.; both food and fibers derived in last analysis from the same stock of renewable resources, as well as from some nonrenewable deposits of carboniferous materials.
|
From page 4... ...
In conclusion, lest the cohesion of socioeconomic structure suffer irreparably, it is evident that the more rapid the tempo of change is becoming, the more sensitive and responsive the whole system of resource supply must become in order to cope with the greater rapidity and severity with which inconsistencies, conflicts, and stresses from independent innovations will arise. The lead time for corrective measures must be progressively reduced, which obviously runs counter to the inertial momentums of established courses; and recognizing these opposing tendencies, it is plain that corrective attempts by sheer trial and error, as of old, would be far too slow to avert the indicated perils of disruption and breakdown.
|
From page 5... ...
Proposition II Organic nature, furnishing renewable resources, constitutes a complex dynamic system of interacting components most subtly equilibrated and interrelated in such mutual dependency that any change in any one component is bound to entail changes throughout the rest of the system. Such systems can have no truly "isolated" parts.
|
From page 6... ...
In such decisions, again, prime consideration must be given to the "structure, " that is, the unequal distribution in space and time, of biological requirements, rather than to sheer bulk accounts. Plant growth, for instance, does not depend locally on the average amount of water available, but on the availability at the proper soil depth at the right season within a tolerable margin between drought and flooding; not on the total amount of light, but on the proper ratio and timing between light and darkness; not on the total freedom from admixtures of other (not directly needed)
|
From page 7... ...
And, as stated above, their significance or insignificance cannot be judged from sheer data on bulk or averages. As examples, we may cite the detrimental effect on plant growth of the lack of trace elements in the soil; the reduction of viability in animals raised germ-free; the self-sterility of highly inbred lines; the epidemic over-growth of species of prey after the artificial elimination of their predators; and, in general, the often fatal disruption of organic equilibria by the disturbance of the equilibrated fabric of competitive, as well as cooperative, relations.
|
From page 8... ...
In microbiology, deliberate induction of mutations by radiation and by exposure to chemical compounds and environmental extremes, followed by careful selection of viable strains with new useful properties, promises to lead to breakthroughs in the cheap supplementation of deficient diets (for instance, amino acid additives to plant proteins of inferior dietary composition) ; in the chemical decomposition for industrial use of organic fibers, including, perhaps, the processing of lignin; in the biological control of pests; and in the biological solution to problems of waste disposal and environmental pollution.
|
From page 9... ...
A much wider search, particularly of the lesser-known vegetation and fauna of the more remote parts of the globe, followed by locating biologically and economically superior environments and culture conditions in more accessible regions, should receive increased emphasis. The use of phytotrons, in which the testing, sorting, and evaluation process can be greatly accelerated and optimum constellation of conditions can be established much more rapidly than in tests in nature, would serve an important auxiliary function in this effort, with the understanding, according to the earlier statements of this proposition, that the ultimate verdict of success or failure will still rest with conclusive tests in nature.
|
From page 10... ...
. It is particularly important, however, to emphasize that in line with the conclusions of Proposition III, undue preponderance of research support in socalled molecular biology, which deals with isolated components of biological entities, however valuable in itself, cannot provide the knowledge of the behavior of the organized complex networks needed for both fundamental and practical purposes; hence, that in research support of the biological sciences, likewise, a "sense of proportions" must be maintained and one-sided distortions prevented.
|
From page 11... ...
Our growing knowledge and experience, however, makes it incumbent on us to lay out patterns of alternative and substitutive practices in advance, so as to have acceptable and feasible schemes for vicariation ready for immediate activation, if and when the unforeseen necessity for bypassing conventional channels should arise. While this is commonplace in military planning, and partly also in economic planning, the resources field has not yet adopted the forward projection of versatility as a major principle and task.
|
From page 12... ...
Despite the uncertainties of the task, however, it would seem imperative to try to assess these variables in the design of alternative multiple-choice channels in a resource master chart of the future, and to weigh the role of factors established on purely objective, scientific grounds -- biological, physical, and technological -- accordingly. In this manner, the prospective equivalence or nonequivalence of alternative routes could be determined with at least some degree of validity.
|
From page 13... ...
Even though the energy requirements for pumping might make irrigation by desalinated sea water economically prohibitive except for coastal strips and depressions, the fact that this would liberate corresponding amounts of fresh water from higher elevations for alternative uses might mark a significant improvement for the total situation in the direction of an overall social and economic gain. Similarly, the partial desalination of some rivers which have an agriculturally undesirable salt content could render wastelands, even though only of regional interest, productive.
|
From page 14... ...
The miserly allocation of time and emphasis to nutritional science in medical schools is just as pertinent an example of educational deficiencies in need of correction as is the relatively low level of education in agriculture and veterinary medicine. Routine training perpetuates existing practices.
|
From page 15... ...
Such a body would function in essence as an intelligence agency in matters of human ecology. It should keep itself constantly informed of all physical, biological, sociological, geographic, and economic events and developments of potential bearing on man's optimal adjustment to his environment, and attempt to evaluate in scientific terms the probable net effect of their mutual interactions on man's future -- short-range and longrange -- in national, regional, and global respects.
|
From page 16... ...
The scientific concepts and methodology to deal with ecological "systems" of heterogeneous composition must be further developed and strengthened and made to penetrate educational practices and public thinking.
|
From page 17... ...
J Copley Floyd De Eds Stanley Gregory E
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.