--------------0C9EAECC27C2F5AE4AFAF68D
DR. PHUA KAI LIT wrote:
>From all accounts, the environmental problem is
much worse in the East European nations
after years of Communist rule and
reckless disregard for the environment.
By their very prescence in the Capitalist world-system Eastern European
countries were not Communist and definetly not zero-growth.
> Is it just capitalism or is it the ideology that
> continuous economic growth is a good thing?
Don't these go hand in hand? I can't imagine a social system that has
reached the point of complex hierarchy not being based on the ideology that
continuous economic growth is a good thing. Maybe its not capitalism at all
though. Perhaps our friend Gunder Frank and his colleagues doing work on
the environment are on to something. Maybe their has been enviromental
degradation as long as there has been a systemic imperative for surplus
accumulation and therefore growth...which most would agree followed the
heels of the neolithic revolution. I'm growing more and more inclined to
believe that dialectic of human history has been negative and that the
environmental catastrophe on the horizon could be mother nature's aenema
for the last 15,000 years of $%*# that she's had to deal with. Can human
agency be of any use here? I wonder how much force you would have to exert
to a train moving at 80 mph to stop it from hitting a brick wall ten feet in
front of it? Sure it can be done...but I don't think so. Hopefully, we'll
get it right next time (if we're lucky enough to get a "next time") and
we'll build something humane out of the ashes of this world system. Someone
please tell me that this sounds overly pessimistic and why?! I'm only 26, I
wonder if I have time to raise children before all hell breaks loose?
According to our own Peter Grimes (PEWS Conference paper) I don't have near
enough time...How many years until the biosphere bites back Peter? I seem
to remember you saying 25-50 years?
Sincerely
Christian Harlow
UC Santa Cruz
>
>
>
>
--------------0C9EAECC27C2F5AE4AFAF68D
DR. PHUA KAI LIT wrote:
>From all accounts, the environmental problem is
much worse in the East European nations
after years of Communist rule and
reckless disregard for the environment.
By their very prescence in the Capitalist world-system Eastern European countries were not Communist and definetly not zero-growth.
Is it just capitalism or is it the ideology thatDon't these go hand in hand? I can't imagine a social system that has reached the point of complex hierarchy not being based on the ideology that continuous economic growth is a good thing. Maybe its not capitalism at all though. Perhaps our friend Gunder Frank and his colleagues doing work on the environment are on to something. Maybe their has been enviromental degradation as long as there has been a systemic imperative for surplus accumulation and therefore growth...which most would agree followed the heels of the neolithic revolution. I'm growing more and more inclined to believe that dialectic of human history has been negative and that the environmental catastrophe on the horizon could be mother nature's aenema for the last 15,000 years of $%*# that she's had to deal with. Can human agency be of any use here? I wonder how much force you would have to exert to a train moving at 80 mph to stop it from hitting a brick wall ten feet in front of it? Sure it can be done...but I don't think so. Hopefully, we'll get it right next time (if we're lucky enough to get a "next time") and we'll build something humane out of the ashes of this world system. Someone please tell me that this sounds overly pessimistic and why?! I'm only 26, I wonder if I have time to raise children before all hell breaks loose? According to our own Peter Grimes (PEWS Conference paper) I don't have near enough time...How many years until the biosphere bites back Peter? I seem to remember you saying 25-50 years?
continuous economic growth is a good thing?
Sincerely
Christian Harlow
UC Santa Cruz
--------------0C9EAECC27C2F5AE4AFAF68D--