At 08:21 AM 4/27/2000 , you wrote:
>What is disturbing to me is that all the "new ideas" people come up, none of
>seem to ever question the obvious - the concept of reducing demand, changing
>lifestyle, managing population pressures ;-(
But reduced demand and smaller populations does not put money into
pockets. The simple lifestyle change of driving a car a year longer before
trading for a new one would significantly reduce the income of auto
companies and the unions.
Population control is another problem with the religious right's love
affair with the fetus. I listened to a recent radio program with an
apologist for the Genetically modified foods industry. He kept referring
to a mother and her starving children and to the increase in food from the
green revolution. The green revolution did nothing to reduce starvation
but instead increased populations consumed the increased food while
impoverished nations had problems getting the necessary water and
fertilizers. New GMOs will only do the same.
>Given the current f*cked up energy situation, I think its inevitable that
>nuclear (even with all its downfalls) is something that should still be openly
>considered, hopefully just as a temporary bridge, weaning us towards an
>eventual more sustainable situation.
It will never be temporary even though the plants are. Replacing oil
with fission or fusion will allow us to continue to consume. I have become
convinced that nothing will happen until real shortages occur. Even that
it will be slow in coming because as it happens, the elites will invent new
processes that will further impoverish the rest.
Nuclear power is a prime example because we will have to move from an oil
based transportation system to one based on electricity. As oil becomes
scarce and expensive there will be a struggle by the elites to avoid any
taxing to build the necessary transportation system for a distributed
population such as ours. Electric cars will only be an option for the
wealthy while the rest will spend an increasing percentage of their income
on transportation or be forced into higher density housing.
Don Bowen [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Valley Center, CA Senior Software Engineer
Internet development and software engineering
http://members.cts.com/crash/d/donb
http://www.oldengine.org/members/ihc14
http://www.oldengine.org/members/ferguson/
