Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals and Design - Chapter 5

BOOK TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOC > Ch. 5 > 5.2 Population dynamics

# Chapter 5 Biology

Martin T. Auer, James R. Mihelcic and Michael R. Penn

## Farmer Bean and Her Pigs

There was once a woman named Catherine who decided to abandon the stress and strain of the city to begin a new life in the peace and quiet of the country. As peaceful as it was out in the country, she found it a bit lonely. Catherine decided that some animals would help and bought two pigs. She built a large outdoor enclosure, dividing it into two pens. The two pigs were given one pen (or sty, as pigs prefer) all to themselves. The pigs loved their new home and became very attached to Catherine, who they called Farmer Bean because they had trouble with names and, after all, she was a human being.

After about 4 months, the pig population had grown to 8; not exactly a herd yet, but a good start. One day Farmer Bean came by the sty to tell the pigs that she was going off to purchase some goats to put in the other pen. She told them that she might be gone for some time, but would leave plenty of food and they would be just fine.

And fine they were. Life was good in the sty and the pigs were fruitful and multiplied. Four months after Farmer Bean left there were 32 pigs, a veritable herd. In all truth, however, it was a bit too much of a herd for this sty. The pigs began to feel cramped and got together to consider ways of improving living conditions. They came up with a couple of ideas and then sought the counsel of an owl named Wiseman who came to visit from the nearby woods on occasion. Wiseman was sitting on his favorite post in one corner of the sty when the Chief Pig came up and announced, “Mr. Owl, we are beginning to feel a bit cramped and dirty in here and have come up with some ideas to make life more pleasant. We have found new uses for some of the less desirable food scraps and we're burrowing a trench to carry away wastes. Life will be good again.” “Congratulations,” said Wiseman, “you are to be commended for your intellect. This is what the beans call the technological solution. I'm afraid, though, that technology will only grant you a short reprieve, for exponential growth is a rapacious beast.” The pigs were disappointed at the owl's response. Although aware of the concept of exponential growth, the pigs believed that it applied only to lower life forms such as the Archaea, Bacteria and Protista. They were pigs, higher forms, members of the Kingdom Animalia! Nonetheless, the pigs put the new technologies in place and life did, indeed, get better.

As predicted by Wiseman, however, the reprieve was short-lived. Four months after implementing the technological solution there were 126 pigs and the problem now was food. There simply wasn't enough to go around. The pigs thought long and hard about this. They hadn't experienced want of food before and were frightened by the implications of a shortage. Talking amongst themselves, they made some hard decisions and again approached Wiseman to try out their idea. “Mr. Owl,” the Chief Pig lamented, “we're running short of food and fear that many of us will go hungry. We've decided that the only solution is to try to be less…uh, piggy…and start to share our food more equally. If we do this, things will get better and life will be good again.” “Congratulations,” said Wiseman, “you are to be commended for your goodness of heart. This is what the beans call equity. I'm afraid, though, that sharing will only grant you a short reprieve, for exponential growth is a rapacious beast.” Again the pigs were disappointed. “Rapacious indeed!” said the Chief Pig (for he didn't know the meaning of the word). “Who is this owl to come down from his tower in the pines, using all these fancy words and telling us pigs how to run our lives?” Still, they followed through on their promise to share. There was equity in the sty.

Once again, however, the good times did not last. In fact, this second reprieve was even shorter than the first. Two months after equity was achieved, there were 250 pigs in the sty. The crowding was becoming more than any pig could stand. Nerves were taut, tempers short and the pigs were not having fun any more. On occasion, pig fights broke out and several members of the herd died. Each day, the pigs gazed with envy at the empty pen, knowing that if they could only have that wide open space for themselves, all would be well. One day, the crowding simply became too much. The Chief Pig worked his way through the herd and once again approached Wiseman. “Mr. Owl,” the Chief Pig said, “we've had it. Were busting out of here and taking over the empty pen. This will solve all our problems; every pig will have a place to roam and life will be good again!” “I understand your frustration, Mr. Pig,” said Wiseman. “You and the other members of the herd have been under a great deal of pressure and I can certainly see how you would covet the pen that Farmer Bean has intended for the goats. I'm afraid, though, that taking over the other pen will only grant you a short reprieve, for exponential growth is a rapacious beast.” “Shnoik,” snorted the Chief Pig and through the barrier they went. It was like heaven. The herd had plenty of room and life was good once again.

However, as Wiseman had predicted, the reprieve was short-lived. Two months after the breakout, there were 500 pigs and two months after that the herd approached a staggering 1000 pigs! The sties were packed, the pigs were hungry and quarrelsome and life was decidedly not good. One day a crane, an old friend of Wiseman's, dropped by the sty on his way north from the savannas of South America. Unbeknownst to him, the crane was carrying some mud on his feet that contained traces of the much feared Pig Flu. Weakened by lack of food and the stress of living in close quarters, the pigs were no match for the disease. In short order, all the pigs, now over 2000 in number, were dead. The sty was a hideous, some say disgusting, sight.

Not long after the last pig died, Farmer Bean returned from her trip. She was shocked by what she saw. Wiseman, sitting atop his usual post, offered his condolences. “Such a disaster, Farmer Bean;” said Wiseman. “such a disaster.” “Disaster?” answered Farmer Bean in amazement, “This is a catastrophe of Malthusian proportion: war and famine and pestilence.” “Yes,” replied Wiseman, “it is well known that the greatest shortcoming of pigs is their inability to appreciate the exponential.” “Unfortunately it is, Mr. Owl,” said Farmer Bean, “and as you and I both know, exponential growth is a rapacious beast.”

Artwork by Bill Sproule

As humans, we are called upon to engage in a change in our way of thinking. As Alan Weisman wrote in Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World, “The times, after all had changed. After decades of infectious idealism that had variously spawned the sixties, the Cuban Revolution, John F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress, human rights movements, and Earth Day, civilization seemed to have finally recoiled from too much growing awareness. Overwhelmed by complex, mounting pressures to save so many plants, animals, and people, the world had backslid, lurching off on a slick, new self-indulgent technological binge and getting promptly hooked on computerized, jet-fueled supply lines capable of keeping a global marketplace well stocked.” As future leaders of this 'backslid world' we would be well advised to consider what Wiseman the owl learned from Albert Bartlett of the University of Colorado, that, “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our ability to understand the exponential.”