Hi Ray,
Sorry, but you have an altogether too romantic idea of man's relationship
with nature.
Man has always exploited nature -- wherever and whenever possible. As soon
as man invented the atlatl (the sprung throwing spear) in about 15-18,000BC
he swept Euro-Asia of all large grazing animals and large competitive
predators.
Three thousand years later, your own direct ancestors, when migrating
through the Bering Strait swept all of North America of elephants, horses,
camels, ground sloths, lions, cheetahs and sabre-tooth tigers in
double-quick time ( . . . well, in about a thousand years or so) -- and
then went on to do the same in South America.
No, Ray. You have it all wrong, I'm afraid. Man only has a balanced
relationship with nature when his agression and hunting equipment reached
equilibrium with nature by a sort of force majeure. The anthropologist who
has studied these matters more than anybody, Binford, has shown that it is
only those tribes who have found themselves trapped in secluded
environments such as valleys, pensinsulas and rainforest/mountainous
fastnesses have learned to live with what they have and not to over-hunt.
(And incidentally, learn to be careful not to overbreed and usually
practise infanticide.)
The same has happened to man's expoitation of the fish and life of the sea.
An article in last week's "Science" magazine describes how when the first
Europeans reached the seas off America they found the cod so densely packed
that all they had to do was to lower buckets over the side. Oyster reefs
were so huge that ships floundered on them and were ripped apart.
It's only in recent (scientific) times that we are at last beginning to
understand the dynamics of nature and the importance of the ecosystem. The
sheer pressure of our populations means that we're coming close to
destroying necessary environmental equilibria. Very close indeed. But at
least we are now beginning to know what we're doing and are beginning to
learn not to exploit blindly. We have a chance at last of conserving what
is left in the coming decades.
Very possibly (I think, probably), when the science of biogenetics is much
further advanced, we may be able to re-populate the world with many species
we have so thoughtlessly destroyed.
Keith Hudson
pAt 14:23 02/08/01 -0400, you wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 2:36 AM
>Subject: FW: The coming recession I agree with you
> > But, altogether, it's economic madness that the future propserity and
peace
>> of the world depends on the development of major new technologies. Each
>> successive one needs increasingly a higher quantum of investment. What are
>> needed are socio-economic mechanisms within countries by which populations
>> can adjust smoothly to the normal swings and roundabouts of economic
cycles
>> and investment euphoria. Perhaps constructive ideas and discussion will
>> revive on Futurework list in the coming few years. But how is this
>less madness than the idea that success must demand constant The
>concept of balance and ordered growth is considered stagnant while the
>consistant over use of non-renewable natural Are we arriving at an
>awareness that the mechanisms of the market in a "wild" environment is no
>more efficient than a Forests of South America as examples, but
>most of the Rain Forests in South America have been shaped by thousands of
>years It is not Darwin but forestry management for the greatest
>possible diversity and the careful planting of food and medicine plants
>that allows for village movement and hunter sustainence The Incas
> version of productivity never before or after matched as did the Iroquois
> We get That in It is the
>cultures that have family structures and responsibility thoughts.
> REH
___________________________________________________________________
Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org>
6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England
Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727;
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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