Lesson 3 At War with the Planet课文解析

International Humanist and Ethical Union • His 1971 book, The Closing Circle, suggested a left-wing, eco-socialist response to the limits to growth thesis, postulating that capitalist technologies were chiefly responsible for environmental degradation, as opposed to population pressures. In 1980, he founded the Citizens Party to serve as a vehicle for his ecological message, and his candidacy for President on the Citizens Party ticket won 233,052 votes (0.27% of the total).
• In the 1960s, he became involved in other environmental issues; these included pollution and energy sources. He gave speeches and wrote numerous books: Science and Survival (1967), The Closing Circle (1971), Energy and Human Welfare (1975), The Poverty of Power (1976), The Politics of Energy (1979), and Making Peace with the Planet (1990). Among his views, Commoner believes that industrial methods, especially those involving fossil fuels, are causing environmental pollution. He feels strongly that the quest for maximum profit
Lesson Three At War with the Planet
Disasters in Technosphere
• Dust storm, disafforestation, desertification, global warming, acid rain, melting glacier, storm, drought, flood, mudslide, heat waves, red tides, earthquake, tsunami, pollutions (air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, white pollution, …)
About the Author
• Commoner moved to St. Louis and became a professor of plant physiology at Washington University , where he taught for 34 years. In 1966 he founded the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems to study the science of the total environment. • During the late 1950s, Commoner became a well-known protester against nuclear testing. He went on to write several books about the negative ecological effects of above-ground nuclear testing. In 1970 he received the International Humanist Award from the
Automobile Engine Emission
Automobile Engine Emission
Acid Rain
Drought in North China Cole field(2008)
Drought in North China (2008)
Drought leaves ships stranded in south China
EARTHKEEPER HERO: BARRY COMMONER • Barry Commoner is an American environmental scientist. He is also an author and a strong social activist. Commoner was born in 1917. He attended Harvard University and received a doctorate in biology in 1941. In his work as a biologist, Commoner has focused especially on ozone layer depletion(损耗,减少). In the 1950s, Commoner began to push for atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, thereby bringing himself into public prominence.
• 3. Nature Knows Best. Humankind has fashioned technology to improve upon nature, but such change in a natural system is, says Commoner, ―likely to be detrimental to that system.‖ • 4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Everything comes from something. There's no such thing as spontaneous existence.
Severe Enviromental Problems
• Mammals are facing extinction • Freshwater fish are on the edge of extinction • Tree species are facing the danger of extinction • Primitive forests are seriously damaged • People don‘t have Safe drinking water
About the Author
[美] 巴里· 康芒纳（Barry Commoner）
《封闭的循环》 （THE CLOSING CIRCLE ） ——自然、人和技术 （NATURE,MAN ADN TECHNOLOGY）
• Barry Commoner (born May 28, 1917) is an American biologist, college professor, and ecosocialist. He ran for president of the United States in the 1980 US presidential election on the Citizens Party ticket. • Commoner was born in Brooklyn. He received his bachelor‘s degree in zoology from Columbia University (1937) and his master‘s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University (1938, 1941). After serving as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during WWII.
Four Laws of Ecology
• One of Commoner‘s lasting legacies is his four laws of ecology, as written in The Closing Circle in 1971. The four laws are: • 1. Everything is Connected to Everything Else. There is one ecosphere for all living organisms and what affects one, affects all. • 2. Everything Must Go Somewhere. There is no "waste" in nature and there is no ―away‖ to which things can be thrown.
Drought continues to play havoc(大破坏，毁坏) in South China
white pollution
Electronic wastes
Dust storm in Beijing
Dust storm(April,17, 2006)
The Author
The Author on the Magazine
Desertification in China
Water shortage
Air pollution
Air pollution
Smog
water pollution
Red Tides With Fish Killed
Tsunami
Mudslide
Mudslide
Melting Glacier
His Writings
• Science and Survival. New York : Viking, 1966. • The Closing Circle: Nature, Man, and Technology. New York : Knopf, 1971. • The Poverty of Power: Energy and the Economic Crisis. New York : Random House, 1976. • The Politics of Energy. New York : Knopf, 1979. • Making Peace with the Planet . New York : Pantheon, 1990.

• After his unsuccessful bid for President, Commoner returned to New York City, and moved the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems to Queens College. He stepped down from that post in 2000, and is now a senior scientist at Queens. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of science and has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. • Commoner criticized Ronald Reagan and George Bush for regulating pollution and not preventing it.