Billy wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Billy wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Bill who putters wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:
wrote:
Billy writes:
An urgent transformation to 'eco-farming' is the only way to
end hunger and face the challenges of climate change and rural
poverty, said Olivier De Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur
That statement is ridiculous.
No amount of additional production will "end" hunger.
Not with an ever increasing demand for food.
All of these political types are afraid to admit the truth.
There are limits.
The shade of Malthus wails over Africa, nobody listens.
David
Read Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and
note the down under issues.
I have. I do. Oz is not in the high birthrate and starving group
(far from it). I don't see the connection with Malthus and Africa.
What do you think it is?
David
The carnage left by colonization.
What is your point? What carnage was left in Australia?
D
We may be talking past each other at this point. The carnage to the
land and the indigenous inhabitants. I don't know their quality of
life is, but I suspect that it would be better, for them and the
land, if auslanders hadn't come there, or here. The destruction of
cultures in Africa by Europeans in quest of treasure (King Leopold's
Mine).
Agreed the land has been mistreated, we are learning better now. I am
mildly optimistic that agricultural land management will improve
considerably in the next generation as many farmers are trying quite hard to
do better in the long term. I am not so sanguine about the common practice
of ruining good land (which is in short supply) to build McMansions on it or
to extract minerals from it. You can say that this was a consequence of
colonialism but I think ignorance is simpler and more apt.
The aboriginals' quality of life is not good, what it would have been like
if they had been left alone in a time warp we can only speculate on. This
is a huge and continuing problem which leaders of all political colours have
made little impact upon. Time does not permit me to go into detail but in
brief we have major conflicting requirements and not all can be met at once.
One of those conflicts is, it is now impossible for the aboriginals to live
as semi-nomadic hunter gatherers but there is no practical way for most to
join the modern way of life without giving up their relationship to the land
which is extremely important to them and their culture. There are very few
jobs in the outback and without jobs there is only slow death by welfare.
There have been a few success stories where aboriginals run their own
enterprises while maintaining their relationship to the land. These are
mainly in the arts, tourism or pastoralism but that isn't possible in all
locations.
David