Are Humans A Cancer on The Planet?

"Be Bold America!"

Produced by KSQD90.7FM “Be Bold America!” Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 5:00pm (PDT)

Warren Hern develops a deep and unsettling comparison between metastatic cancer and the expanding footprint of humanity, as we consume and degrade the environment that sustains us. - John W. Terborgh, Duke University

What is Homo Ecophagus? It is a new term meaning, “The man who devours the ecosystem.”

Over the course of its evolution, humans have evolved cultures and adaptations that have now become malignant and that the human species, at the global level, has all the major characteristics of a malignant neoplasm – converting all plant, animal, organic, and inorganic material into human biomass or its adaptive, adjuncts and support systems.

This process is incompatible with continued survival of the human species and most other species on the planet.

Interview Guest:

Warren M. Hern, MD, MPH, PHD, 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. Dr. Hern created the new term “Homo Ecophagus” to describe human-kind’s devastation to the planet.

Guest Cohost:

Mike Clancy holds degrees in Oceanography and Meteorology and has worked at the Science Applications International Corporation, the Naval Research Lab, and the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) in Monterey. Michael has authored over 100 publications in meteorology, oceanography and information technology, and received over 50 professional awards, including the Navy’s highest civilian award, the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, signed by the Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Clancy is a frequent lecturer on climate change and currently serves as Chair of the Monterey County Chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.