On Nov 1, 2008, at 5:32 PM, Jim Devine wrote:
ravi wrote:
I have made
reference, in the past, to the First Law of Thermodynamics or the
law of
conservation of energy. As we continue to grow our consumption, our
material
wealth, our populations, etc, we will (and have) cross(ed) a point
where we
destroy the things that sustain us.
The first law only works for closed systems. The Earth is not one of
these.
I was referring to this simple fact:
http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/firstlaw.html
The total amount of energy in the universe is constant, although
energy can be transformed from one form to another.
how does one define
"poverty"?
One definition is as having less economic, political, and social power
than anyone else in society, thus being dragged down by a vicious
circle of the sort that Gunnar Myrdal referred to. It's like being in
quicksand.
I like that definition. I think it works very well with the thesis put
forth by me and with Rahnema in the quoted text -- it doesn't at all
depend on "growth".
--ravi
--
Support something better than yourself ;-)
PeTA => http://peta.org/
Greenpeace => http://greenpeace.org/
If you have nothing better to read: http://platosbeard.org/
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
