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EarthA Tenant's Manual$
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Earth: A Tenant's Manual

Frank H. T. Rhodes

Print publication date: 2012

Print ISBN-13: 9780801478239

Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: August 2016

DOI: 10.7591/cornell/9780801478239.001.0001

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The Finite Planet

The Finite Planet

Chapter:
(p.120) Chapter 9 The Finite Planet
Source:
Earth
Author(s):

Frank H. T. Rhodes

Publisher:
Cornell University Press
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9780801478239.003.0009

This chapter examines the Earth's finitude of space and resources, noting that land areas cannot so much be changed or expanded upon as it can be reused or replaced. Although there are the possibilities of colonizing other areas of the solar system, the chapter focuses largely on the planet Earth and its own finite resources. It emphasizes the need for restraint and resourcefulness on a planet with rather daunting limits, especially in the face of the ever-growing human population. Moreover, given their population and their penchant for consumption, the human species has invariably created most of the problems that plague the Earth today. Responsible tenancy on Earth thus becomes a challenge, though not an impossible one—human knowledge is, unlike the Earth's resources, unlimited in scope.

Keywords:   Earth, finite resources, consumption, human population, limited resources, human knowledge

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