From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Thu May 13 1999 - 07:42:15 MDT
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From: "Billy Brown" <bbrown@conemsco.com>
>Actually, it is just the opposite. It is a recognition of the
>fact that people in the rest of the world have their own cultures,
>philosophies and opinions about how things should be done. They
>aren't going to turn their lives upside down just because the
>American government (or the Europeans, or the UN) wants them to.
Actually I worded this poorly, it was the opinion you were
responding to I was addressing. I agree with your point as stated
above.
>If you believe, for example, that the destruction of the Brazilian
>rain forest is evil and stupid, it does no good to rail against it
>to an audience of Americans. There is precious little we can do
>about it without resorting to a massive application of force. The
>people you need to convince live in Brazil, and that is where you
>need to concentrate your efforts.
Here we are fighting over harvesting the last of the old growth
timber in the U.S., but telling the Brazillian's they must not
harvest all of their's. If I was them, I'd tell us to F*** off.
>You should also recognize that the situation calls for more than
>just proselytizing. Most of the environmental degradation in the
>Third World is not caused by evil western corporations trying to
>get rich on the backs of the poor. Instead, it is caused by huge
>numbers of impoverished people trying to survive as best they can.
>Telling them to stop will do no good - they aren't going to let
>their children go hungry to preserve a few more acres of forest.
>What you need to do is give them an alternative way of providing
>for themselves that doesn't destroy the land.
I don't agree, much of the degradation is related to more advanced
economies utilizing the people and resources of the third world for
their own gain, plus since we don't utilize
environmental/ecological technologies, we're the last one's who
should tell anyone about it. Fortunately South America has an
excellent example of it's own.... Gaviotas.
>Of course, trying to actually do something effective about the
>situation leads to a whole nest of practical problems, but that is
>a different issue.
Agreed, I'm just one of those silly people who's headed for the
stars, and who want's to leave a trail and the ability to follow to
anyone interested. ;)
Brian
Member, Extropy Institute
www.extropy.org
Member, Life Extension Foundation
www.lef.org
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