two good quotes

[chelidon]

Good quote -- do you know where your food comes from?

"If economics is reconceived in the service of community, it will begin with a concern for agriculture and specifically for the production of food. This is because a healthy community will be a relatively self-sufficient one. A community's dependency on outsiders for its mere survival weakens it. It is often unable to develop the policies it desires for the sake of its own members, since its survival depends on terms dictated by others. The most fundamental requirement for survival is food. Hence, how and where food is grown is foundational to an economics for community."
--Herman Daly and John Cobb
http://www.serve.com/ecobooks/comgood.htm


And another good quote, from the person who runs http://medicinehill.net --

"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope."
-- Wendell Berry

Comments

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

I thought about your post in relation to the city where I live. Simple logic would dictate that all our food comes from somewhere else, whether it's from relatively nearby farms or from around the world. I have the feeling that many people will starve to death in about ten to fifteen years, when this society collapses.

On the other hand, this will be a good thing for society and the earth, as the useless and the weak will die and the strong and essential will survive.

Think about it. 535 dead Congressmen. What a beautiful thing.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Well...I appreciate the sentiment, but among the problems with that scenario is that history shows that during times of great upheaval and calamity, the greatest burden of death, pain and suffering is borne heavily by the young, the old, and the poor, because they are those with the least resources to draw from. The rich have more to sell, more wealth in concrete terms to trade for essentials and creature comforts, and to pay others to do what they cannot. And the distribution of wealth in this country is getting ever more lopsided every day. Some of that wealth will be rendered valueless (um, anyone want a Hummer when gas costs $15/gal? ;>), but by no means all.

Time will tell whether our economy and society have a soft landing or a hard crash in the post-oil era. I hope for the former, but it seems like it's almost already too late to change the course of what's been set into motion, so perhaps the best one can do is become as self-sufficient as possible (not individualistic, though, that's not viable long-term, self-sufficient inside sustainable communities) and hold on tight.

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

True. I did not think of that. The pain will be borne by those who have the fewest resources. Like other animals, children and the elderly are the most vulnerable of the human species. Poverty, however, is unique to humans. No other animal has developed any kind of socioeconomic system.

Other good things that may come about:

1. No more urban sprawl.

2. Better air quality.

3. No more threats from global pandemics (as you pointed out in an earlier post).

4. No more threats from Al-Qaeda or other bad elements from outside the country.

5. No more international wars.

6. Greater cultural stability in the long run. People will be born and live in one place all their lives, so they will not be exposed to things that will make them question the ideas of their tribe.

7. No more overcrowding, as over half the population will be dead. Infant and childhood mortality will also soar, which will offset the lack of birth control.

8. No more obesity and obesity-related diseases, as there will barely be enough food to go around.

Points 7 and 8 will be bad for individuals, but ultimately good for humankind as a whole and for the rest of the planet, as the numbers of the most destructive species on Earth will be cut and kept lower permanently.