LEADER 03983nam 22006734a 450 001 9910462069203321 005 20210423003524.0 010 $a0-8135-3448-8 010 $a1-283-52677-8 010 $a9786613839220 010 $a0-8135-5877-8 024 7 $a10.36019/9780813558776 035 $a(CKB)2670000000240367 035 $a(EBL)988925 035 $a(OCoLC)809768057 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000249336 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11215697 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000249336 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10205939 035 $a(PQKB)10669359 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC988925 035 $a(OCoLC)53973223 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse21487 035 $a(DE-B1597)526176 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780813558776 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL988925 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10075385 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL383922 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000240367 100 $a20020426d2003 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|||||||nn|n 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aSparing nature$b[electronic resource] $ethe conflict between human population growth and earth's biodiversity /$fJeffrey K. McKee 210 $aNew Brunswick, N.J. $cRutgers University Press$dc2003 215 $a1 online resource (226 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 0 $a0-8135-3141-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 185-197) and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tPreface --$t1. Sparing Nature --$t2. The Scattered Seeds --$t3. The Human Wedge --$t4. Genesis of a Crisis --$t5. Germs of Existence --$t6. The Great Restrictive Law --$t7. Good to the Last Drop --$t8. Biodiversity in Action --$t9. Epilogue: The Keystone Species with a Choice --$tNotes --$tIndex --$tAbout the Author 330 $aAre humans too good at adapting to the earth's natural environment? Every day, there is a net gain of more than 200,000 people on the planet-that's 146 a minute. Has our explosive population growth led to the mass extinction of countless species in the earth's plant and animal communities? Jeffrey K. McKee contends yes. The more people there are, the more we push aside wild plants and animals. In Sparing Nature, he explores the cause-and-effect relationship between these two trends, demonstrating that nature is too sparing to accommodate both a richly diverse living world and a rapidly expanding number of people. The author probes the past to find that humans and their ancestors have had negative impacts on species biodiversity for nearly two million years, and that extinction rates have accelerated since the origins of agriculture. Today entire ecosystems are in peril due to the relentless growth of the human population. McKee gives a guided tour of the interconnections within the living world to reveal the meaning and value of biodiversity, making the maze of technical research and scientific debates accessible to the general reader. Because it is clear that conservation cannot be left to the whims of changing human priorities, McKee takes the unabashedly neo-Malthusian position that the most effective measure to save earth's biodiversity is to slow the growth of human populations. By conscientiously becoming more responsible about our reproductive habits and our impact on other living beings, we can ensure that nature's services will make our lives not only supportable, but also sustainable for this century and beyond. 606 $aPopulation$xEnvironmental aspects 606 $aPopulation 606 $aBiodiversity 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aPopulation$xEnvironmental aspects. 615 0$aPopulation. 615 0$aBiodiversity. 676 $a333.95 700 $aMcKee$b Jeffrey Kevin$01055434 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910462069203321 996 $aSparing nature$92488825 997 $aUNINA