Lectures / 02/03/2009 7:30 pm
Perception?
The limits to growth as exemplified by biomass. Are there such things as ecological “laws”?
Using biomass to generate energy is currently the latest fashion. Yet there are limits to the effectiveness of this putative panacea. Marianne Popp is going to contrast the functional cycles of natural ecosystems with the practices of agriculture and forestry. This leads to insights into alternatives to the production of biomass. All this revolves around issues such as “Why don’t trees grow into the sky?”, “What is an ecological pyramid?”, “How much space on earth does a human being need?”, “Why are vegetarians ‘better’ human beings?”
If you would like to ask a question on any of these issues, please drop Marianne Popp a line at marianne.popp@univie.ac.at
Bibliography:
- Kromp-Kolb, Helga, Schwarzbuch Klimawandel, wie viel Zeit bleibt uns noch? Helga Kromp-Kolb, Herbert Formayer, 2007.
- Winiwarter, Verena, Umweltgeschichte, eine Einführung, Verena Winiwarter, Martin Knoll, Köln, Wien [u.a.] Böhlau, 2007.
- Kalusche, Dietmar, Ökologie in Zahlen, eine Datensammlung in Tabellen mit über 10.000 Einzelwerten, von Dietmar Kalusche, Stuttgart [u.a.], G. Fischer, 1996.
