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1、TheVulnerablePlanetFifteenYearsLaterJOHnbELLamYFOSTErTheoriginalintentofTheVulnerablePlanet,whenitwasfirstpublishedfifteenyearsago,wastoprovideabriefhistoricalmaterialistanalysisofthedevelopmentoftheglobalecologicalcrisis,beginningwiththeearlycivilizationsandleadinguptothemonopol
2、ycapitalistsocietyofthelatetwentiethcentury.Lookingbacknowatthebookasitwasoriginallywrit-ten—andatthesecondeditionpublishedfiveyearslater,incorporatingafewminorchangesplusanafterword—Iseenomajorpointonwhichtheanalysishasproventobesubstantiallywrongorwhereitneedssignifi-cantrevisi
3、on.Nevertheless,thelastdecadeandahalfhaswitnessedanaccelerationofhistorywithrespecttothehumanrelationtotheenviron-ment,addingforcetotheconcernsthatthebookexpressed.Atthetimeofitsfirstappearance,TheVulnerablePlanetwascriticizedbysomeontheleftasalarmist.1But,ifanything,itsargumento
4、nthedirenatureoftheplanetaryecologicalcrisis,viewedfromtoday’sperspective,understatedtheseverityoftheproblem.Thus,the1994editionstatedintheveryfirstparagraph:“AccordingtotheprestigiousWorldwatchInstitute,wehaveonlyfourdecadesleftinwhichtogaincontroloverourmajorenvironmentalproble
5、msifwearetoavoidirreversibleecologi-caldecline[changedto“socio-ecologicaldecline”inthesecondedition],andthe1990sarethecriticaldecadeinwhichthenecessarychangesmustbegintooccur.”Yet,todaythistimelineappearstohavebeentooopti-mistic.Availableevidencesuggeststhatwecouldbefacinganirrev
6、ocabletippingpointwithinadecadewithrespecttoourabilitytoprotecttheclimateandtheearthasweknowit—althoughthefullsocio-ecologicalcostofthecontinuationofcurrenttrendswillnotbefeltforgenerations.ThesimultaneousrapidmeltingofseaiceintheArctic,theicesheetsinAntarcticaandGreenland,thefro
7、zentundraofthenorth,andthegla-ciersinmountainousregionsmarksamassiveclimaticshift,which,ifnotstopped,willhaveunthinkablerepercussionsforlifeonearth.2ThisistheprefacetotheBanglaeditionofTheVulnerablePlanet,translatedbyFarooqueChowdhury,tobepublishedbyShahityaPrakashinDhaka,Banglad
8、esh,andbyBanglaMonthlyReviewinKolkata,In
