Word: ecosystems
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this bounty and the bay itself are now threatened. Watermen have been saying for years that the Chesapeake is dying. Now others are confirming their complaint. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, after making a $28 million six-year study, concluded in 1983 that the Chesapeake is clearly an ecosystem in decline. Says Maryland Governor Harry Hughes: "Time is running out for the Chesapeake. If we do not take action to save the bay, there may be no point in taking it tomorrow; it may be too late...
...clear that the ecosystem effects alone resulting from a large scale thermonuclear war could be enough to destroy the current civilization in at least the Northern Hemisphere. Coupled with the direct casualties the combined intermediate and long term effects on nuclear war suggest that there might be no survivors in the Northern Hemisphere the possibility of the extinction of Human suspense cannot be excluded...
...shellfish and other marine life. Known for their collections of picturesque coral and nourishing sea grasses, the Caribbean's shallow coastal waters are a rich breeding ground for sea life, ranging from shrimp, mollusks and crustaceans to numerous varieties of finfish. Any major disturbance of this fragile ecosystem could have far-reaching repercussions. Unfortunately, as Rodriguez Mercado notes, there is little awareness of the economic importance of these resources. Few officials seem willing to trade off the immediate payoff of a new hotel for the long-term benefits of a protected reef or thriving coastal estuary...
...League. To be sure, there is no way to calculate the dollar value of the view from a mountaintop, the solitude of a forest or the airy freedom provided by a piece of open land near a crowded city. There is no way to put a price on an ecosystem that is destroyed to make way for a shopping center or a high-rise apartment...
...contain or limit it, much less win it. The dynamic of spontaneous, irreversible escalation would quickly destroy all the well-laid plans of the war games and the "doctrines" of the political leaders, just as it would destroy almost everything else-not just civilization, but much of the ecosystem as well, sparing only certain lower orders of flora and fauna that seem peculiarly able to survive in a radio active environment. Hence the title of the first of three sections in the book: "A Republic of Insects and Grass...