permaculture

[Jenny <jenny@dsrt.com>]

What a diversity of 100 % ecological products can do...imagine! 
Unfortunately not at all funny.
Jenny



WASHINGTON, DC--According to an EPA study conducted in conjunction
with the U.N. Task Force On Global Developmental Impact,
consumer-product diversity now exceeds biodiversity. According to
the study, for the first time in history, the rich array of
consumer products available in malls and supermarkets surpasses the
number of living species populating the planet.

     "Last year's introduction of Dentyne Ice Cinnamint gum, right
on the heels of the extinction of the Carolina tufted hen, put
product diversity on top for the first time," study chair Donald
Hargrove said.

     "Today, the Procter & Gamble subphylum alone outnumbers
insects two to one." The sharp rise in consumer-product
diversity--with more than 200 million new purchasing options
generated since 1993--comes as welcome news for those upset over
the dwindling number of plant and animal species. "As more and more
species fall victim to extinction, we face a grave crisis of
decreased diversity, not only in America but across the globe,"
Hargrove said. "But the good news is, these losses in biodiversity
are more than offset by a corresponding rise in consumer-product
diversity. Though flora and fauna are dwindling, the spectrum of
goods available to consumers is wider than at any time in planetary
history. And that's something we can all be happy about."

     Scientists are calling the current decrease in biodiversity
one of the worst episodes of mass extinction in the Earth's
history. The rate at which species are currently vanishing
approaches that of the "K-T Event" that ended the Age of Dinosaurs
65 million years ago and resulted in a loss of 76 percent of the
world's species. The current era of biodiversity depletion,
however, is unique in that it is the first mass extinction to occur
in conjunction with an expanding industrial society, and thus, the
first in which consumer-product availability can function as a
"balancing factor" to help keep global diversity thriving.

     "Any healthy system needs diversification in order to
flourish, University of Chicago biologist Jonathan Grogan said.
"Any complex system, whether we are talking about the Amazon
Rainforest or the Mall of America, needs a rich array of
species/products if it is to survive. That is why, in light of the
crumbling global ecosystem, it is increasingly vital that we foster
the diversification of the global marketplace by buying the widest
range of consumer products possible."

     According to Grogan, because of the interdependent nature of
systems like the Amazon Rainforest and the Mall of America, the
disappearance of any one species/product can lead to the
disappearance of countless others. "The extinction of the Borneo
hooded tern was an indirect result of the disappearance of the
native species of sea snails upon which it fed," Grogan said. "This
kind of vicious cycle, once begun, is impossible to contain.
Fortunately, though, the process can function the same way in
reverse: The successful introduction of a new item can lead to
additional items later on. For example, the proliferation of Love
My Carpet-brand carpet cleaner in hall closets across America would
not have been possible without the introduction of the affordable,
easy-to-use Hoover 5.0 upright vacuum cleaner. And thus, the cycle
of life goes on."

     According to science writer David Quammen, much of the rise
in consumer- product diversity is a direct result of the decrease
in biodiversity. "When a species vanishes, the world loses not only
that species, but the wide range of highly specialized physical and
biochemical functions that species served. These ecological losses
necessitate the creation of new, synthetic products capable of
serving the same functions," Quammen said.

     "So, for example, when we lose a strain of microbe that
filters the water we drink, we compensate by developing the amazing
Brita water filter, with its patented filtration technology. When
we lose a plant in the jungles of Indonesia whose berry bears an
extremely rare nutrient, we develop in its place fruity, fun-to-eat
Flintstones chewable vitamin supplements."

     Read the EPA report: "The planet Earth stands on the brink of
one of the most devastating global extinctions in history. By the
year 2040, nearly two-thirds of all current species will be
extinct. Rainforest habitats that were once lush canopies of life,
sustaining millions of highly specialized and interdependent
species of plants and animals, have been reduced by upwards of 95
percent in some areas. Thankfully, however, retail outlets which,
as little as 50 years ago, were the domain of only a handful of
basic staple goods, have evolved into lush, highly developed
supermarkets and department stores with a nearly limitless
abundance of consumer goods."

     Environmental and business leaders cheered the report's
optimistic findings, but they warn that consumers still have their
work cut out for them. "As our ecological resources continue to
disappear, we must all do our part," Quaker Oats CEO Reuben McCall
said. "That means diligent, conscientious commitment to increased
consumption of new products. If these products are not bought,
nobody will manufacture them. And if this were to happen, the
damage to the precious diversity of our consumer landscape would
be disastrous."


  Andy MacKinnon
  B.C. Ministry of Forests, Research Branch
  3rd Floor, 712 Yates Street
  Victoria, B.C. V8W 1L4
  phone: (250-) 387-6536
  fax: (250-) 387-0046
  e-mail: andy.mackinnon@gems1.gov.bc.ca