permaculture

[John Schinnerer <eco_living@yahoo.com>]

Aloha,

Some good points in this article, and some thoughts...

> NEWS FROM THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE
> ...                
> Some 1.2 billion people worldwide struggle to
> survive on $1 day or less. 

This is in line with the UN's manner of always looking at other
cultures' "problems" in terms of a western first world
cash/credit-based economy.  A thriving eco-village that was locally
self-sufficient could find themselves in this "struggling" category, as
could a successful third-world subsistence culture.  Not that these 1.2
billion people aren't in bad shape - but this way of defining the
"problem" unnecessarily limits what are seen as "solutions."

> 1.2 billion people lack access to safe
> drinking water and 2.9 billion have inadequate access to sanitation.

I'm guessing that the sanitation issues are directly linked to the
potable water issues.  Address sanitation and much will be improved
with water as well.  
If Worldwatch is basing their costs for sanitation on first world
solutions, the actual cost of more appropriate systems that return
composted humanure to soil could be a tiny fraction of their estimates.

> But people whose hopes have
> worn thin, whose aspirations have been thwarted, and whose discontent
> is rising, are far more likely to succumb to the siren song of
> extremism.

And this doesn't have to be as dramatic as terrorist actions.  It can
be as simple and local as "desparate" communities in the US gladly
welcoming the growing private prison industry, or toxic waste
incinerators, or nuclear power plants, or <insert your least favorite
industry here> because they provide jobs.


=====
John Schinnerer, MA
--------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
Food - Shelter - Community
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net

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