Item Link: Access the Resource
Date of Publication: March 2, 2017
Year of Publication: 2017
Publication City: Vatican City
Publisher: Casina Pio IV
Author(s): Paul R. Ehrlich
How to Save the Natural World on Which We Depend
Paul R. Ehrlich presents during the workshop on biological extinction of the Pontifical Academies of Science and Social Sciences, providing an overview on Why We Are in the Sixth Extinction and What It Means to Humanity
“When we are killing off biodiversity, we’re sawing off the limb that we’re sitting on. Intensely stupid, no question about it, and hardly paid any attention to. Now, that’s one set of reasons and we call those the ‘ecosystem service’ or the ‘natural service’ reasons that we want to protect biodiversity. But for me, and I think for most of my colleagues, unfortunately not for everybody, there is also a large ethical reason for preserving biodiversity. I didn’t mention the spiritual and aesthetic services we get. But even beyond them a lot of us feel that we have an ethical duty to protect the only other life forms we know that we share the universe with.”
Paul R. Ehrlich shared his thoughts following the workshop with the MAHB Blog in Vatican Visit.
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