The Arcos Cielos Global Ecology Project New Strategies for Global Transformation by Elliott Maynard, Ph.D. Arcos Cielos Research Center, Sedona, Arizona, USA www.arcoscielos.com

Four Mega-phenomena are Transforming Our Planet The World we know will undergo Major Changes

Four MegaPhenomena Impacting Global Biosphere I. The Carbon Dioxide Spike II. The Species Extinction Spike III. The Consumption Spike IV. The Population Spike

I. The CO2 Spike The global impact of human development over the past several millennia has reduced global forest cover by about 50%. Trees and vegetation act as a global carbon sink. When trees are cut for firewood, or to make space for farming, this carbon is released into the atmosphere.

Atmospheric CO2 Increase After 1970 accelerated to an additional 1ppm every 8 months. Increased only 1ppm per 400 years for most of our species development. Between 1800-1970 CO2 began rising 100 times as fast.

II. Species Extinction Spike Many species are disappearing without our even noticing. Their disappearance threatens to unravel the living fabric that sustains all life. Natural resource exploitation and human development accelerate habitat destruction. One primate species…Humans…have exploded in population, while the 232 other mammal species have declined.

Biologists surveyed by the Museum of Natural History in New York say we have entered the fastest mass extinction in Earth’s history – even faster than when the dinosaurs died. …Ed Ayres, 1999. God’s Last Offer: Negotiating for a Sustainable Future.

Variety allows agriculture to develop natural defenses against pests and disease. The Great Potato Famine in 19th Century Ireland might have been averted if other varieties with disease-resistant genes had been available. …Ed Ayres, 1999. God’s Last Offer: Negotiating for a Sustainable Future.

Over 100,000 slash-and-burn fires are set each year in the Amazon, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mexico. The world’s Tropical Forests decline by an area equal to one football field every second. Every hour three more species are eliminated. …Ed Ayres, 1999. God’s Last Offer: Negotiating for a Sustainable Future.

III. The Consumption Spike We consume natural resources 1,000 to 10,000 times as fast as Nature produces them. We practice a commerce that draws down Earth’s finite resources far faster than natural processes can regenerate them. Normal Consumption for us will probably be regarded by future humans as pathologically excessive.

We consume topsoil much faster than nature can restore it. Each year 30 billion tons of the world’s topsoil is lost to erosion. Losing topsoil has about the same effect as a person losing blood… only so much can be lost. …Ed Ayres, 1999. God’s Last Offer: Negotiating for a Sustainable Future.

The Earth is under siege by us. We have been transformed into insatiable consumers. The issue before the Eskimos is not whether they need refrigerators, but how they can buy them and use them. For most humans, consumption is the central purpose of life. …Carlos Hernandez, Rashmi Mayur - Pedagogy of the Earth.

IV. The Population Spike If population growth isn’t brought under control, it will be catastrophically halted by a rising death rate…caused by disease, starvation, or violence. Today, our population takes only 3 days to increase by as much as it did in a whole century throughout most of human existence!

The Specter of Starvation This year, 12 million people will starve to death. 30 million will perish from hunger-related disease. This is equivalent of 300 Boeing 737’s with 400 passengers each, crashing every day of the year with no survivors. …Carlos Hernandez & R. Mayur, 1999 – Pedagogy of the Earth: Education for a Sustainable Future.

The Earth is a hothouse now. Six billion members Of the human family and rising, Congregated together On a spinning ball, In stress and ferment, Caught between what was, And what is yet to be. ….Jean Houston, 2000, Jump Time

A Typical Day on Planet Earth 116 sq.mi. of Tropical Rainforest destroyed. 72 sq. mi. of Desert will form in in semi-arid regions due to population impacts. 250,000 Newborns join the human race. 1.5 million tons of Hazardous Waste will be disposed of…released into the land, atmosphere, and waters.

Americans will throw way enough waste to fill the New Orleans Superdome twice. By day’s end Earth will be a little hotter, the rain a little more acid, our cities a little more crowded, and the air a little bit dirtier. Tomorrow…This process begins all over once again. …Carlos Hernandez & R. Mayur, 1999 – Pedagogy of the Earth: Education for a Sustainable Future, p. 31.

We have created this overcrowded world of overtaxed resources by consuming ancient sunlight, converting it into contemporary foods… and consuming these foods to create more human flesh. …Thom Hartman, 1998 - The Last hours of Ancient Sunlight .

Technology as a Human Capability Magnifier Technology has provided the human species with new modalities for our innate human capabilities. More importantly…Technology has Magnified the powers we already have.

Driving 10,000 miles each year is the basic manpower equivalent of having 30 personal servants available on a full-time basis.

Coral Reefs Coral Reefs have been called, Rainforests of the Sea Reef Parks Allow Diversity and Natural Balance Coral Reefs are Biological Banks for thousands of plant and animal species. Coral Reefs provide Seed Stock for adjacent sport and commercial fishing areas. Eco-Tourism is a multi-Billion-dollar business, focused on a renewable resource and creating local jobs.

Rain Forests Cover less than 2% of Earth’s surface. Home to 50-70% of all life forms on the Planet. Scientists estimate an average 137 species become extinct each day (50,000 each year). Are important to the Global Weather System. Their destruction alters the Global Hydrological Cycle, causing droughts, flooding, and soil erosion. Rainforest destruction alters Earth’s Albedo (Reflectivity), which, in turn, alters wind and ocean current patterns, and rainfall distribution.

Forty years ago Ethiopia was 30%forested. 12 years ago only 4% was left. Today…Less than 1% is left. Before the turn of the Century, India was 50% forested. Today, this is reduced to about 14%.

…If we people of Earth are to avoid a massive disaster within the lifetime of our children, our most critical and urgent task is to bring forth a transformed vision of progress… one of sustainable, and replicable development. …Gerald O. Barney- Global 2000 Revisited

“Every society must challenge the male domination and control of fertility. Men and women have an equal right to decide, and they should be treated equally. In fact, all the family planning programs in every society should be in charge of women, who have a key key role to play in social development, environmental protection and population sustainability.” …Carlos Hernandez, Rashmi Mayur - Pedagogy of the Earth.

It’s a Fish-Eat-Fish World For every pound of farm salmon produced, 2 to 5 pounds of ocean fish are caught to feed them. By farming vegetarian fish, we short out the food chain, and avoid depleting ocean stocks. Scallops, Mussels, and Oysters are filter feeders, and are thus very efficient in terms of energy. Fish and Shrimp Farms should not be allowed to replace natural wetlands and mangroves. Waste water must be treated before discharge into the ocean.

With small flags waving, and tiny blasts of tiny trumpets, we has met the enemy… and it is us. …Pogo Possum, by Walt Kelley.

Gaia…The Global Intelligence “We can see our planet as an exquisite, luminous, living globe hanging undivided in the silence of space. The testimonies from space bring home with a fresh impact just what a rare and precious opportunity of life we share with the planet as one whole ecosystem and as a part of it.” …Yatri, Unknown Man: The Mysterious Birth of a New Species.

GALAXIA A Living Intelligent Universe “After 14 billion years of evolution, we stand upon the Earth as agents of self-reflective and creative action on behalf of the universe. We see that we are participants in an unceasing miracle of creation. This recognition brings a new confidence that our potentials are as exalted, magnificent, and mysterious as the living universe that surrounds and sustains us.” …Duane Elgin: IONS Review, #54, February 24, 2001