Given dramatic declines in global biodiversity, E. O. Wilson continues to support the idea of making half the Earth a nature reserve. He recently explained to Joseph Stromberg why he thinks such dramatic action would be feasible:
[T]hink of it this way: currently, the ecological footprint of the average American is about 20 acres — that’s the amount of land required to support all needs of the average person. So this means that to achieve a US standard of living all around the world, it’d require three or four planet Earths. So it can’t be done.
But now consider the digital age — especially the industries of biology, nanotechnology, and robotics. These and other developing technologies can shrink the size of our ecological footprints. For instance, nowadays, people are buying smaller and smaller electronic devices. This is what they want to buy, not for any environmental ethic, but because they’re more sophisticated. But they also use fewer materials, and less energy is required to run them. … So by making use of these scientific disciplines and technologies, we can help save the living world and secure more safety for our species. It lies in an unintended consequence of the post-industrial and digital revolution.
George Dvorksy argues that Wilson’s idea isn’t so half-baked after all:
He’s right when he says that our collective ecological footprint is set to decrease over the coming decades. Once it’s down to manageable levels, humans won’t require much living space. We seem to like collecting ourselves in large cities, anyway. One of the main challenges as I see it, however, is reducing the ecological footprints of emerging nations. Disseminating these technologies to all the world’s people will be a monumental challenge.
Further, as a resource-crazed civilization – whether it be trees or oil – we’d have to resist the temptation of grabbing whatever we want from Wilson’s preserved areas. Petro states like Canada and Russia won’t be too happy to see huge swaths of their territory set aside for nature. And what about those people who live in these areas? Would they be forced to relocate? But that’s not to say these are intractable problems. They’re political problems, and an issue of collective will.
The Dish 