Cutting Edge > Groundbreakers > Edward O. Wilson

Edward O. Wilson

American biologist Edward 0. Wilson, the pioneer of sociobiology and biodiversity, is considered to be one of the world's greatest living scientists. He has been a professor at Harvard University since 1956. An entomologist, he discovered in the late 1950s how ants communicate through pheromones. Author of over a dozen books, Dr. Wilson collected Pulitzer Prizes for On Human Nature and The Ants. Other books include the controversial Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, published in 1975, and The Diversity of Life, in which he argues that the biodiversity crisis, the "sixth extinction," threatens 30% to 50% of all species by 2050. In 1989 Wilson published Biodiversity which brought the term into regular use and raised awareness regarding the state of the world's diminishing resources. Biodiversity II was published in 1996 and is a more technically written update on the planet's biodiversity.

Dr. Wilson has won many, many awards including the National Medal of Science for his research on pheromones. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and several foreign academies, and is a Fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He has lectured all over the world and received over 20 honorary degrees. The National Audubon Society named him one of the 100 Champions of Conservation, 20th Century. Time named him one of America's 25 Most Influential People in 1996, and in 2002 presented him a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Wilson's most recent book is titled The Future of Life. Scott Vlaun's book review appeared in our April 2002 eNewsletter and is reproduced here.

In any serious discussion about biodiversity, the brilliant scientist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author E.O. Wilson is sure to come up. His seminal works have painted a picture of an earth teeming with life beyond our imagination and in peril beyond belief.

Wilson's latest work, The Future of Life, expounds the value of bio-diversity on many levels, from the practical to the spiritual. On one hand, highly endangered plants, insects, animals, and whole ecosystems, only now being discovered, hold possibilities for feeding and healing us, as well as for forming the basis of sustainable economic development. On the other hand, Wilson implores us to look at nature from an ethical and moral perspective. "It is," he points out, "the alien world that gave rise to our species and the home to which we can safely return."

The largest threat to biodiversity, or nature as we know it, is our human presence. Wilson points out that species extinction is proceeding at a rate 1000 times greater than in the pre-human era. At this rate, over half the known species will be extinct by the end of the century. This mass extinction is primarily due to habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, pollution, and over-harvesting--all exacerbated by our burgeoning population which Wilson predicts, even given declining birthrates and continued efforts to reduce population growth, will crest at somewhere near 10 billion people in the latter part of this century. Furthermore, our ability to sustain ourselves is threatened by dwindling supplies of water and arable land.

How to survive this "bottleneck" of overpopulation and wasteful consumption, while raising the standards of the world's poor and protecting what's left of our biosphere's wonderful diversity is the focus of this book. Wilson challenges us to carefully and sanely apply our scientific, technological and spiritual advances to reduce our ecological impact and energy consumption while increasing per capita food production and sustainable development.

Beautifully written, grounded in science, and ultimately filled with hope, E.O. Wilson's "The Future of Life" masterfully weaves together many strands of thought relevant to our survival. It is not too late, as many would have us believe, to build a sustainable future for all life.    S.V.