{"content":[{"text":"Date of completion:","bbox":{"left":0.094118,"top":0.05286,"width":0.12667,"height":0.015613999999999996}},{"text":"3 March 2006","bbox":{"left":0.229014,"top":0.05286,"width":0.089914,"height":0.015613999999999996}},{"text":"THE FATE OF AN ACTOR ON THE ECOLOGICAL STAGE \n OF THE EVOLUTIONARY THEATER","bbox":{"left":0.258921,"top":0.097666,"width":0.48219699999999993,"height":0.035074999999999995}},{"text":"John Cairns, Jr.","bbox":{"left":0.437057,"top":0.161384,"width":0.125867,"height":0.01904900000000001}},{"text":"Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, \n Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA","bbox":{"left":0.160194,"top":0.209338,"width":0.679386,"height":0.03503400000000001}},{"text":"The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression \n of loyalty to the earth … the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need – if only \n we had the eyes to see. Edward Abbey","bbox":{"left":0.094116,"top":0.289331,"width":0.81132,"height":0.050873}},{"text":"As action is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of a living community, \n and wrong when it tends otherwise. Rightness is reckoned in terms of safeguarding the present and \n preserving future options – not just for people, but for the living world that forms humanity’s crucible, \n context and endowment. \n Aldo Leopold","bbox":{"left":0.094116,"top":0.369179,"width":0.7962220000000001,"height":0.08276699999999998}},{"text":"This humble observer/stagehand/actor has previously used the metaphor of a stage in the \n evolutionary theater to attempt a planetary perspective on sustainable use of the planet (Cairns 2004). \n This combination seems appropriate since the words theater and theory have Greek roots — both are \n concerned with putting on a show. The metaphor has a number of useful features: (1) humankind \n should be an actor, stagehand, and observer (audience), (2) Homo sapiens is just one of over 30 \n million species now “on stage,” (3) a majority of actors (i.e., species) that were once on stage will not \n return – each has become extinct, (4) the “play” has been “running” for over 4 billion years and has an \n estimated 15 billion more to go, (5) humans can extend their 160,000 years on stage by living \n sustainably. \n Humans are markedly different from other actors that are now or have been on stage. \n Individuals of other species differ from each other, but the range of differences between individuals \n that affect the health and well being of the planet is dramatically greater in humans. Global warming \n is a disturbing illustration of this point (e.g., per capita energy use). Both the theory and the evidence \n for global warming have been accepted by mainstream science for many years, e.g., six ex-chiefs of \n the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) urge more action on greenhouse gases (Janofsky \n 2006). This number includes five (serving under Republican presidents) who feel that the \n administration of the present President Bush needs to act more aggressively to limit the emission of \n greenhouse gases linked to climate change. The ex-chiefs comments were a reminder that, since \n President Bush took office in 2001, neither the President nor the US Congress has proposed any \n comprehensive plan to limit carbon emissions from vehicles, utilities, and other sources. Even \n President Bush’s Department of Energy chief predicts that the production of greenhouse gases will \n worsen. Former USEPA Chief Russell E. Train (1973-1977) has noted that sitting back and ignoring \n this problem and dealing with it sometime down the road is both dishonest and self destructive. \n Responses I received to the previous brief article (which used the stage metaphor) and other \n discussions on the subject indicate that this topic warrants further discussion. However, some people \n felt that: (1) Homo sapiens would be on Earth as long as it is habitable and then would colonize other \n planets, (2) social evolution would replace biological evolution for the human species, (3) technology","bbox":{"left":0.094116,"top":0.496836,"width":0.8111020000000001,"height":0.43427299999999996}},{"text":"1","bbox":{"left":0.49451,"top":0.953106,"width":0.010901999999999967,"height":0.020818000000000003}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}