cj#879> re: Malthus & World Hunger

1998-12-12

Richard Moore

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Dan Desmond" <•••@••.•••>
To: <•••@••.•••>
Subject: RE: cj#878> surprise extra edition: re/Malthus & World Hunger
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 07:29:57 -0500

Some really good points, and worth pondering.  However, I don't agree that
the disequilibrium brought about by government and corporate policies is
nearly as powerful a force as bioregional carrying capacity. Arithmetic
gains vs exponential losses is the story of humankind since the dawn of the
industrial revolution.  To believe that any human contrivance, economic or
no, can stave off a reckoning - well, there are other wagers with better
promise.  For another view of what is or is not sustainable, I recommend:

http://www.dieoff.org

--------------------

Dear Dan,

I can't understand your position.

You cite industrialization as the origin of our 'carrying capacity'
problem, and yet you seem to dismiss the effect of over-industrialization
now.

Why is it that Rwanda had sufficient carrying capacity before IMF dictates
but now doesn't?

No one disputes that there is a carrying-capacity problem, and that ways
need to be found to reduce population.  The issues, as I see them, are:

    (1) It is capitalist expropriation of resources that is causing
        today's famines, not actual carrying capacity.

    (2) Population can be brought under control by poor nations on their
        own if imperialism is ended and they are allowed to use their
        own resoruces for their own benefit, and to determine their own
        economic and social policies.

Have you looked at "World Hunger, Twelve Myths"? It's a short book, and it
gives careful attention to the kind of arguments advanced in
"http://www.dieoff.org".

rkm



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