I am sure that most of the list participants are familiar with Jeremy Rifkin's
excellent book "Entropy" where he argues that all development accelerates the decline
in the earth's ability to sustain itself. Readers of recent Fortune and Business2.0
mag editions will be aware of the fact that certain industries are predicted to fall
apart in the next decade - many of them Fortune 500 companies. With estimates that as
many as 90% of Fortune 500 companies will not make it through the next decade, there
is some reason for optimism. The use of the web increases efficiency of fossil fuels
- increased #'s of return loads for truckers rather than returning empty. Profit
margins will be cut for real estate agencies, insurance agencies, and other similar
businesses. Thus, it could be hoped that the higher paying professions may see the
greater loss of income, reducing consumption levels of non-essentials which may lead
to a slowing of entropy.
---
Bill Ward
Research Director
Arthritis Research Institute of America
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Sat, 26 Jun 1999 10:18:15 Thomas Lunde wrote:
>
>
>
>
>I was quite taken with this paragrapgh, but on on second reading, the
>phrase, "we could keep growth within ecologically tolerable limits" struck
>me the wrong way. This idea of growth, whether capitalistic,
>entreprenueral, or just plain technolgocial change is so pervasive that it
>has become an unchallenged "truth" of any solution to the inequity of the
>current world situation.
>
>It may very well be that there is no "growth" solution. Just as lack of
>demand invalidates much of capital's vigour, so lack of topsoil, energy,
>space, minerals, and other resources may soon impact us all - not back to a
>sustainable society, which the optimists consider our fallback position but
>to an actual collapse situation.
>
>As we prattle our solutions on this list and others, the drawdown of natural
>systems, earths resources and population explosion continue their march
>towards problems in which the solutions may neither be optimistic or
>pessimistic but realistic.
>
>Respctfully,
>
>Thomas Lunde
>
>PS: Read the report I have posted at the end of this message, if you think
>I am being overly negative.
>
>
>>Subject: WHY WE NEED A NEW MANIFESTO
>>Date: Fri, Jun 25, 1999, 7:54 PM
>>
>
>>
>> Excerpt from May 1998 Monthly Review article by Daniel Singer:
>>
>> WHY WE NEED A NEW MANIFESTO
>> ---------------------------
>>
>> First we must deal with the problem of the allegedly vanishing work. We
>> are living in a society in which our technological genius, translated
>> into higher productivity means either bigger unemployment or greater
>> polarization with the so-called working poor. Marx's suggestion that
>> "the theft of somebody else's labor time" is a miserable foundation to
>> calculate our wealth-which we should measure by disposable time not by
>> labor time-is so much truer today than it was 150 years ago. We have the
>> technological means to live differently. If output were determined not
>> by exchange value, or the weight of your purse, but by social need
>> democratically decided by the people, we could keep growth within
>> ecologically tolerable limits, eliminate unemployment and reduce the
>> working week. Indeed, in the advanced capitalist countries, we could
>> start reducing heavy, dangerous and dreary work, thus gradually removing
>> the frontier between labor and leisure.
>> regards,
>>
>> Tom Walker
>> http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/worksite.htm
>
>Thursday, June 24, 1999 (from the Graffis List)
>
>
> The combination of human-driven climate change and rapidly changing
> socio-economic conditions will set off chain reactions of devastation
> leading to super-disasters, according to a report released today by
> international aid organizations.
>
> "Everyone is aware of the environmental problems of global warming and
> deforestation on the one hand, and the social problems of increasing
> poverty and growing shanty towns on the other. But when these two
> factors collide, you have a new scale of catastrophe," said Astrid
> Heiberg, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and
> Red Crescent Societies.
>
> Over the last six years, the aid organizations have watched the number
> of people needing their assistance rise from less than half a million
> to more than 5 million, said Hieberg.
>
> Last year's season of natural disasters caused more damage than ever
> before, according the World Disasters Report 1999, an annual survey of
> humanitarian trends put out by the federation.
>
> The report indicates that declining soil fertility, drought, flooding
> and deforestation drove 25 million people from their land and into the
> shanty towns of fast-growing cities.
>
> Through an analysis of Hurricane Mitch and the weather phenomena El
> NiRo and La NiRa, the report shows a trend toward weather-triggered
> super-disasters.
>
> For example, when the effects of El NiRo struck Indonesia, causing the
> worst drought in 50 years it set off a chain reaction of crises. The
> rice crop failed, the price of imported rice quadrupled, the currency
> dropped by 80 percent, food riots erupted in the capital, Jakarta, and
> massive forest fires burning out of control in the countryside
> paralyzed parts of Indonesia with a toxic layer of smoke.
>
> Developing countries will be hardest hit by the effects of climate
> change, environmental degradation and population pressures, according
> to the report. Already, 96 percent of all deaths from natural
> disasters occur in developing countries.
>
> One billion people are living in the world's unplanned shanty towns
> and 40 of the 50 fastest-growing cities are located in earthquake
> zones. An additional 10 million people live under constant threat of
> floods, according to the report.
>
> On the positive side, the report indicates that disaster preparedness
> is paying off in countries like China. The country has invested $3.5
> billion in flood control over the last 40 years and saved the country
> $12 billion in potential losses.
>
> The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
> concludes that people need to change the way they look at disasters
> and change the system if they want to prevent loss of life and the
> wasting of donor funds.
>
> "We have to structure and fund our emergency services internationally,
> the same way we do domestically. We don't wait until a house catches
> fire, then raise money for the fire department," said Peter Walker,
> the federation's director of disaster policy.
>
> Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
>
>>
>
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