Original paper
The present ecological situation of mankind – analysis and consequences
Niemitz, Carsten
Anthropologischer Anzeiger Volume 76 No. 3 (2019), p. 275 - 292
published: Sep 1, 2019
published online: Nov 30, 2018
manuscript accepted: Oct 22, 2018
manuscript received: Apr 27, 2017
DOI: 10.1127/anthranz/2018/0901
ArtNo. ESP140007603009, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
As the number of human individuals increases on a planet of invariable size and measures, the ecological conditions vary to a corresponding extent. Quite a number of biotic and abiotic factors are a matter of daily news as well as of current scientific discussions. In this contribution, eleven ecological fields concerning human life are analysed: • area available with respect to various competing utilisations, • fresh water needed as drinking water, for industrial processes and for irrigation as well as for other human purposes, • food production, nutrition and related aspects, • required fossil and regenerative energies, • atmosphere and climate, • marine ecology and fisheries, • human waste and ecological aftereffects, • the ecological functions of forests for human life, • biodiversity, • the Ecological Footprint, and • the development of human population increase. As the very characteristic of the ecological network, almost all these factors interact in obvious or clandestine ways. In the given frame of this article, the manifold interchanging influences are discussed, and consequences for a sustainable human life are drawn.
Keywords
environmental threat • human ecology • human population development • sustainable human life