Yes, this article is a real _tour de force_. I highly, highly recommend it. Lou is absolutely correct, the not-so-implicit message is that it's all been downhill since the emergence of sedentary grain cultivation, but not only is the science dead-on, there are useful nuggets of ecological political economy in here as well. Such as ... were the world's 6 billion to adopt US dietary habits, the world's fossil fuel stocks (not just capitalistically recoverable fossil fuel stocks) would be depleted in less than a decade. Stunning stuff.
John Gulick
LP said:
(An extremely important article from the Feb. 2004 Harpers Magazine, which unfortunately is not online. I scanned in the first couple of pages but urge everybody to track it down and read the whole thing. It is the first time I have seen an attempt to integrate an analysis of the agricultural crisis with the energy crisis. All that is needed is to connect all this to the water crisis and you will have the basis for a total ecological critique of late capitalist society. Although Manning is something of a Deep Ecologist, his understanding of the *science* is unimpeachable. The article addresses the question of civilization's roots in agriculture and urban society and the conclusion one is left with is that it is *unsustainable*. Manning also has a brief article on the Counterpunch website on Mad Cow that I also recommend a look at: http://www.counterpunch.org/manning01172004.html)
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