15 



JOINI HKARINC BliFORh 



IllF. SUBCOMMiTTHF ON MlI.ilARY RliShARCH AND OhVHl.OPMhNI Of- 

 THi; 'HOUSli NATIONAL SHCURITY COMMIITHF 



IMH SUBCOMMHTKH ON KNHRGY AND FNV1R0NMHN1 OF FHi: HOUSF 



COMMITTEF ON SCIKNCF 



AND 



Tin; SUBCOMMI'ITFF ON FISIIFRIFS. WILDIJFF, AND OCFANS ()! TUl. 

 HOUSF COMMlTTHt ON RFSOURCFS 



1-liSJiMOHT^--64VEJS BY 



Dr. Robert D. Ballard 



Senior Sci entist, W owJs Hole Oreanographic Institution 

 JVcs+dtrnr; institute for Exploration 



Chairman of the Board, JASON Foundation for Education 

 January 25, 1996 



Dear Mr. Chairmen. 



I want i<) thank \ou and the various members of the participating subcommittees 

 for inxiting me here das. 



Modem research now suggests that all humans on the face of Earth come from a 

 common ancestr\ that can be traced back to the plains of eastern Africa and that 

 during the last 200, ()()() years, our ancestors journeyed forth from their birth 

 place to populate the planet - first across the large Eurasian land mass and finallv 

 into the new world during the v\aning sears of the Great Ice Age, just a fev\ tens of 

 thousands of s cars ago. 



Mans factors led to the global expansion of our forefathers, to search for food and 

 shelter, a drising desire to escape oppression, a lust for economic gain or simply 

 in pursuit of a better life for themseises and their losed ones. For whateser the 

 reason, the fact remains our species now dominates the planet. We base ali but 

 conquered mans of the forces that held us in check for oh so mans millenniums. 



Instead of being controlled bs the forces of nature, we are now beginning to alter 

 nature itself. Our actisities base depleted the ozone layer, led to a build up of 

 C()2 in the atmosphere, begun the destruction of the rain forests, and continue 

 the premature extinction of mans plants and animals we once Used in harmony 

 with. 



Some demographers now tell us that there are more people alive toda> than have 

 eser died since our species began to populate the planet and that number will 

 double again while we struggle through the next centurj . Despite the rhetoric 

 about the need for population control, we continue to multiplj , entering an era 

 where reproduction is novs endangering our existence instead of insuring our 

 sur\isal. 



