Sydney Nova Scotia-- population 40,000
Nova Scotia population -- 800,000
Political "weight"-- 5 %
Cape Breton Regional Municipality-- population 120,000
Sydney+Glace Bay+New Waterford++++++
Political "weight"-- 15%
M
On Wed, 16 Dec 1998, Steve Kurtz wrote:
>excerpt from a paper by Albert Bartlett published in Population
>& Environment, Vol. 20, No. 1, September 1998, Pgs. 77 - 81.
>
>REGIONWIDE PLANNING WILL MAKE THE PROBLEMS WORSE
>________________________________________________
>
>
>REGIONAL PLANNING DILUTES AND ULTIMATELY DEFEATS DEMOCRACY
>
> What does regional planning do to democracy? In 1950 the
>population of
>the City of Boulder was 20,000. So when speaking to a member of the City
>Council in 1950, a citizen of Boulder was one voice in 20,000. In 1998 the
>population of Boulder is approximately five times larger, so one citizen of
>Boulder in 1997 is one voice in 100,000. Population growth in Boulder
>since 1950 has diluted democracy in Boulder by a factor of five! This is
>bad enough. But look what will happen if we turn to regional planning as
>we seek democratic ``solutions'' to the problems. If there are 300,000
>people in the ``region,'' then, as seen by the individual citizen, regional
>planning will further dilute democracy by another factor of three. If the
>``region'' includes the metropolitan Denver counties with perhaps 2.5
>million
>population, one citizen of Boulder will be reduced to being only one voice
>in 2.5 million! Then, to make things even worse, if regional planning is
>``successful'', it will hasten the population growth in the region to 3, 4,
>or even 5 million, with the corresponding further destruction of democracy.
>
> For the individual, democracy is inversely proportional to the size
>of the
>participating population.
>
> In an interview with Bill Moyers, Isaac Asimov made a very profound
>observation:
>
>Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
>
>The feedback is positive. Efforts that are made to use regional planning
>to ``solve'' local problems cause the local problems to grow to be regional
>problems.
>
> Here's how it works.
>
> 1) Things that impede population growth are regarded as problems
>that
>must be solved.
>
> 2) It follows then that solving these problems aids and
>facilitates
>population growth.
>
> One needs to remember Eric Sevareid's Law: ( Sevareid, 1970 )
>
> The chief cause of problems is solutions.
>
>Indeed, one can recognize a fundamental Law of Planning:
>
>Planning in a community or region
>can provide long-term solutions to community or regional problems
>only if the planning causes, or is accompanied by,
>a complete cessation of population growth in the community or region.
>
>
>Human dignity cannot survive overpopulation.
>Convenience and decency cannot survive overpopulation.
>As you put more and more people onto the world,
>The value of life not only declines, it disappears.
>It does not matter if someone dies.
>The more people there are, the less one person matters. ( Moyers, 1980 )
>
>(snip)
>
>
Michael Gurstein, Ph.D.
ECBC/NSERC/SSHRC Associate Chair in the Management of Technological Change
Director: Centre for Community and Enterprise Networking (C\CEN)
University College of Cape Breton, POBox 5300, Sydney, NS, CANADA B1P 6L2
Tel. 902-563-1369 (o) 902-562-1055 (h) 902-562-0119 (fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Http://ccen.uccb.ns.ca ICQ: 7388855
