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Hello David - Your starting point seems to be what is being produced today (solar cell tech., EV's, etc.), as though these are the most efficient ways to provide power or transport into the future. As a former builder and amateur architect I can assure you that placing solar panels on the McMansions of today is utterly wasteful. Above all, orientation of buildings is key, and with careful placement of doors and windows, shade trees and awnings -- and perhaps most importantly changes to Building Codes to engender this -- we can solve just about any problems with heating and cooling of buildings. There are many other online resources, but as far as transportation goes one I've found indispensable is Low Tech Magazine, which you can find online at <http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/>. Low Tech Mag. is also a fine historical resource. We have so much to learn from the past; just about all the problems of today have been pondered and dealt with by greater minds than ours. If we take the best of past practice and put it to work today, there is little left to solve. For example, if we practiced agriculture as explained in the book "Farmers of Forty Centuries" then we would improve our soil instead of deplete it. If you're on Facebook, for alternative technology generally check out my Post-Industrial Library at <https://www.facebook.com/Post-Industrial-Library-1695807904025546/>. Richard ------------------------------ Message: 21 Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2017 06:43:26 -0700 From: DW <dwalters...@gmail.com> To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> Subject: Re: [Marxism] "Ground rent" thesis at the Left forum Message-ID: <CAA0cW=_fesp_GrNuf7oCmO54Xn5w=NOP1q_bY5n7ByhsZKi=l...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Patrick, thank you for replying. I'm curious, especially because you are from a major "extractivist" nation, S. Africa, what the alternatives are? For any transformation, energy specifically, but technological/industry more generally, requires some forms of pulling minerals out of the grown. This is true for solar cell technology as it is for electrical vehicles or mass transportation. I've never read a serious alternative to this except Green de-development (and thus anti-Marxist) perspectives on this. Are there any sources you can refer me to that deals with this issue? On the issue of Venezuela...I raised this issue of their tar-sands development here once, and other places, years ago when Chavez had announced an expansion of investment in the Orinco Oil belt. I know a young organizer who spent 6 months there back in 2010 or so. He said it was an insane ecological disaster...extracting oil from the Venezuela's tar sands (the largest in the world and what Chavez and PDVSA were claiming makes Venezuela the owner of the largest oil reserves in the world) is particularly bad, far worse than it is in Alberta, because of it's tropical and semi-tropical location. Of course I defend the right the government to develop this oil but always wondered if in the long run...it's a disaster for the country and the planet if it all gets developed. Thinking out loudly, David _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
