Homo Ecophagus

Warren M. Hern, MD, is a practicing physician in Boulder, Colorado, where he is also on the anthropology faculty at the University of Colorado. He holds a Master of Public Health degree and a PhD in epidemiology. His clinical and epidemiologic research has been published widely in scientific and medical journals, including BioScience and Population Studies. His public advocacy of reproductive rights has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, CBS’ 60 Minutes, and other prominent venues. He has conducted decades of research in fertility and population trends based in the Peruvian Amazon.

PART ONEOverview – what’s the problem?






"Save that. We might need it someday"



Public health and politics in West Africa



Medical school and the Amazon: "You are very keen in your diagnosis"



Brazil, Chile, and abortion



Public health; research; and revelation



A new calling



Threat to the Holy Cross Wilderness



Family planning, Amazon style



"You may not ask that question"



"As you know, the human population has just doubled for the first time"
PART TWO
Manifestations of malignancy




What the fractal is this?



Malignant expansion and retroactive heterotrophicity in modern urbanizations



Effects of malignant human activity on small, local ecosystems



Human contact and island ecosystems



Effects of human activities on regional ecosystems



Effects of human activity on continental ecosystems



The oceans



Toxic trash, oncometabolites, and cow farts



Effects of human activity on biodiversity



Effects of human activity on the global ecosystem
PART THREE
Analysis and policy choices




Humans as cancer: Metaphor, model, analogy, hypothesis, or diagnosis?



Human activities and malignant entropy



Human culture and the ecophagic imperative



"What will be the limiting factor for the human population?"



"We have met the enemy, and he is us"



Epilogue: "Great Bringer of Death to Paradise"