Table Of ContentHomo Ecophagus
Homo Ecophagus by Warren M. Hern is a wide-ranging look at the major problems for the sur-
vival of not just the human species, but all other species on Earth due to human activities over
the past tens of thousands of years. The title of the book indicates Hern’s new name for the
human species: “The man who devours the ecosystem.” Over the course of its evolution, Hern
observes, 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. Hern contends that this process is incompatible
with continued survival of the human species and most other species on the planet, offering a
diagnosis and prognosis of the current environmental impasse.
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 de-
gree and a PhD in epidemiology. His clinical and epidemiologic research has been published
widely in scientifc 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.
“What a book! Homo Ecophagus is truly wonderful to read. It is a galvanizing chronicle, a clear-
eyed look at human decisions that have altered our world, its species and ecosystems in the
past, and how this knowledge is highly relevant to decisions we must now make on climate
change and biodiversity. These insights are all told through Warren Hern’s scientifc knowl-
edge and vivid personal experiences with these issues. Hern’s book both inspires and embold-
ens us to make urgent decisions to conserve our biosphere that we all rely on. This book is a
wonderfully insightful read for students in a wide range of college classes.”
Diana H. Wall, Director, School of Global Environmental Sustainability,
CSU University Distinguished Professor, and Professor of Biology,
Colorado State University
“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. His readable and accessible account weaves facts, insights, and personal history into a
compelling narrative that will leave you sadder but wiser about the inescapable human pre-
dicament that lies ahead. The book is a must read for all of us who are concerned about the
environment and our collective future.”
John W. Terborgh, The James B. Duke Professor of Environmental
Science and Co-Director of the Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University
“Homo Ecophagus is a fascinating analysis by the physician scientist who pioneered the idea that
humanity is performing like a metastatic skin cancer on our planet. Read it and act!”
Paul and Anne Ehrlich, authors of The Population Bomb
“Homo Ecophagus has the facts, personal experiences, and very vital messages. I hope lots of
people read it and modify their behavior.”
P. Dee Boersma, Director, Center for Ecosystem Sentinels,
Wadsworth Endowed Chair in Conservation Science, and Co-Chair
Penguin Specialist Group for IUCN, University of Washington
“Homo Ecophagus is a comprehensive and in-depth view of the global problems we face as a spe-
cies. Hern, a highly respected and brave physician and humanitarian, offers an alarming diag-
nosis of our planet’s self-inficted pathology that we must understand and treat immediately.”
Timothy E. Wirth, U.S. Senate, Colorado (Ret.),
President Emeritus, The United Nations Foundation
Homo Ecophagus
A Deep Diagnosis to Save the Earth
Warren M. Hern
Designed cover image: © Win McNamee / Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Warren M. Hern
The right of Warren M. Hern to be identifed as author of this work has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hern, Warren M., author.
Title: Homo ecophagus: a deep diagnosis to save the earth / Warren M. Hern.
Description: New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2022009971 | ISBN 9781032324210 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781032322223 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003314950 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Population. | Population—Environmental aspects. |
Human beings—Extinction.
Classifcation: LCC HB871 .H43 2023 | DDC 301.6/2—dc23/eng/20220601
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022009971
ISBN: 9781032324210 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032322223 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003314950 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003314950
Typeset in Garamond
by codeMantra
This book is dedicated to the Earth
and to the memory of all
the living things we have destroyed
in becoming Homo ecophagus
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Author biography xiv
Introduction 1
PART ONE
Overview – what’s the problem? 5
1 “Save that. We might need it someday” 7
2 Public health and politics in West Africa 12
3 Medical school and the Amazon: “You are very keen in your diagnosis” 16
4 Brazil, Chile, and abortion 26
5 Public health; research; and revelation 30
6 A new calling 39
7 Threat to the Holy Cross Wilderness 45
8 Family planning, Amazon style 54
9 “You may not ask that question” 58
10 “As you know, the human population has just doubled for the frst time” 70
PART TWO
Manifestations of malignancy 81
11 What the fractal is this? 83
12 Malignant expansion and retroactive heterotrophicity in modern urbanizations 96
13 Effects of malignant human activity on small, local ecosystems: “It’s only eels!” 111
14 Human contact and island ecosystems 146
viii Contents
15 Effects of human activities on regional ecosystems 164
16 Effects of human activity on continental ecosystems 179
17 The oceans 190
18 Toxic trash, oncometabolites, and cow farts 209
19 Effects of human activity on biodiversity 224
20 Effects of human activity on the global ecosystem 242
PART THREE
Analysis and policy choices 259
21 Humans as cancer: metaphor, model, analogy, hypothesis, or diagnosis? 261
22 Human activities and malignant entropy 268
23 Human culture and the ecophagic imperative 271
24 “What will be the limiting factor for the human population?” 275
25 “We have met the enemy, and he is us” 280
Epilogue: great bringer of death to paradise 292
Glossary 297
Bibliography 311
Index 315
Preface
“It is with the coming of man that a vast hole seems to open in nature, a vast black whirl-
pool spinning faster and faster, consuming fesh, stones, soil, minerals, sucking down
the lightning, wrenching power from the atom, until the ancient sounds of nature are
drowned in the cacophony of something which is no longer nature, something instead
which is loose and knocking at the world’s heart, something demonic and no longer
planned – escaped, as it may be – spewed out of nature, contending in a fnal giant’s game
against its master.”
Loren Eiseley, The Firmament of Time, 1960
“Man is an apparition.”
Eliot Porter, April 5, 1989, Tesuque, New Mexico
“We’re making ourselves extinct!”
Fernando Hermoso Muñoz, age 10, Fourth grade student, 2010, Boulder, Colorado
“We can’t just let nature run wild!”
Wally Hickel, 1994, Governor of Alaska, Secretary of the Interior
“We have been waging unceasing war against nature for the entire history of humanity.”
Margaret Renkl, Author, Nashville, Tennessee, New York Times, May 31, 2021
This book is the result of decades of observation, study, and increasing despair as I have
watched much of the Earth being transformed in my own short life span. It is the result of
looking back and refecting on lived experience. Some of it was lived as I was unknowingly
being part of this process of transformation and destruction. Some of it was lived as I enjoyed
and reveled in the exquisite beauty and wonder of the natural world. Some of it was lived
witnessing and horrifed by the destruction happening before my eyes. These are indelible
experiences.
Nothing can replace what we have destroyed and what we are destroying at an increasingly
relentless and furious pace.
Is there hope? There is no hope without understanding. This is my miniscule contribution
to understanding what the human species is doing to the planet Earth and what we have be-
come as a species. In my opinion, only by understanding that can we see how to preserve what
is left of our own life support system not to mention the breathtaking and almost incompre-
hensible complexity of the natural world that evolved long before our brief recent appearance
as a species on Earth.
It is my frm view and conviction that, unless we understand these things and act on that
understanding immediately, we will not survive much longer as a species. These warnings
