The First Law Of Ecology Is That

Despite The Dazzling Successes Of Modern Technology And The Unprecedented Power Of Modern Military Systems, They Suffer From A Common And Catastrophic Fault. While Providing Us With A Bountiful Supply Of Food, With Great Industrial Plants, With High-speed Transportation, And With Military Weapons Of Unprecedented Power, They Threaten Our Very Survival.

Science Is Triumphant With Far-ranging Success, But Its Triumph Is Somehow Clouded By Growing Difficulties In Providing For The Simple Necessities Of Human Life On Earth.

The Favorite Statistic Is That The U.s. Contains 6 To 7% Of The World Population But Consumes More Than Half The World's Resources And Is Responsible For That Fraction Of The Total Environmental Pollution. But This Statistic Hides Another Vital Fact: That Not Everyone In The U.s. Is So Affluent.

What The New Fertilizer Technology Has Accomplished For The Farmer Is Clear: More Crop Can Be Produced On Less Acreage Than Before. Since The Cost Of Fertilizer, Relative To The Resultant Gain In Crop Sales, Is Lower Than That Of Any Other Economic Input, And Since The Land Bank Pays The Farmer For Acreage Not In Crops, The New Technology Pays Him Well. The Cost-in Environmental Degradation-is Borne By His Neighbors In Town Who Find Their Water Polluted. The New Technology Is An Economic Success-but Only Because It Is An Ecological Failure.

Technologists Practice Faith Too; 'faith That Problems Have Solutions Before Having The Knowledge To Solve Them.'