Lesson XXVI: Vocabulary in Context

2.7. ANTHROPOCENE Ali: So, we are living a CHANGING WORLD, aren’t we? John: Definitely. Most of the present social and cultural patterns must be replaced by a set of new ones to support the model of a sustainable development. Ali: Are there any difference between social and cultural patterns of the DEVELOPING and DEVELOPED countries? John: Of course there are. In so called “developing world,” people are practicing the maintenance of large families what negatively affects already high population pressure. Moreover, the “developing world” is prone to employ dirty and energy wasting technologies that lead to further degradation of the environment. On the other hand, in the self-proclaimed “developed countries,” mostly from the west, social status goes hand in hand with the energy consumption. It violates the principles of INTERGENERATIONAL and INTRAGENERATIONAL equity. Ali: Would you please tell me more about it? John: Well, since the earth's resources aren’t the outcome of human activities – say: drinkable water, oxygen or the fossil fuels – there isn’t a justification for a couple of generations to exploit everything what nature brought into existence over an inconceivable long period of time. Neither one can justify the right of one person to utilize the resources more than another within the same generation. So, the even distribution of natural resources between generations is called INTERGENERATIONAL and between the individuals of a generation is labeled as INTRAGENERATIONAL equity. Ali: How could it be that only now do people realize the resources of this planet are finite? John: You’re wrong Ali. There are many farsighted people who try to warn the public about the destructive attitude of the mankind toward the environment. However, there have been too few to listen to them. Read “Our Plundered Planet” written by Fairfield Osborn. He was a paleontologist and geologist yet also the president of American museum of Natural History for more than 20 years. He was the author of the following article that describes the present state of the environment on the earth published in the long gone 1949. Exercise: 2.7.1. Practice Anthropocene Answer the following questions. 1. Do the present social and cultural patterns support a sustainable development of humankind on the earth? 2. Do the people from so-called “developing world” maintain small families? 3. What are the people from the “developing world” prone to employ? 4. What does social status in so-called “developed world” usually go hand in hand with? 5. What is INTERGENERATIONAL equity? 6. What is INTRAGENERATIONAL equity? 7. Who was Fairfield Osborn?