THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

2019. Global population is supposed to stabilise around 10 to 12
billion some time around 2050.
What has made this population explosion possible (again for better
and for worse) has clearly been the Industrial Revolution, when
human and animal power was replaced for the first lime by fossilfuel
energy. The production of goods follows an even steeper curve
than the population. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the
developed world multiplied by a factor of 20 between 1800 and
today.
The standard of living has soared from bare subsistence to what our
ancestors would have considered extraordinary affluence for many
people in Europe, North America and industrialised Asia. These are
immense accomplishments which, whatever drawbacks they may
entail, should still be recognised. However, there is also another side
to this balance sheet, which should be looked at squarely as well.
Status report on Biosphere Earth
Until last century, Nature was perceived as a big, powerful, aweinspiring
force on which humans had very little if any impact. This
has now dramatically changed. In 1996, the World Conservation
Union, in collaboration with more than 600 scientists, published the
most comprehensive survey so far on the status of animal life on
earth. Their conclusion: 25% of mammals and amphibians, 11% of
birds, 20% of reptiles and 34% of fish species surveyed so far are
threatened with extinction. Another 5% to 14% of all species are
'nearing threatened status'. A 1998 survey concluded that 6,000 tree
species, ten per cent of all existing tree species, are now endangered
as we11.
A report released by the United Nations in September 1999 based
on assessments by 850 specialists around the world concludes that