permaculture

[Loren Davidson <loren@farwalker.com>]

At 05:36 PM 1/1/02 -0500, Claude  Genest wrote:
> Have you begun to have the name of Bjorn Lomborg thrown at you in
> discussions about the environment?

Not yet.


> What do you say in response to "The world is better than ever : people live
> longer, healthier lives than ever before...." ?

"If you only look at the world from the viewpoint of human health and 
longevity, you may be right...however, do your statistics involve all 
humans, or just the ones living in First World nations?

"If you look at the percentage of the worlds forests and topsoils and clean 
water that have been lost in the last two hundred years due to human 
activity, you will see that this health and longevity not only comes with a 
very high price from the viewpoint of every other species on the planet, 
you also see that there will come a point in time at which the raw 
materials to support that health and longevity will be exhausted."

It also wouldn't hurt to have sources for three or four of your own 
supporting statistics handy, just in case you're asked for them.

Finally, sometimes, as the saying goes, it may be impossible to teach the 
pig to sing.  Sometimes it just wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Loren


Loren Davidson        Permaculturist, philosopher, writer
loren@farwalker.com   http://www.earthspring.org/loren/
AIM: loren334     ICQ: 65291610
"We have to create the future, or others will do it for us" - Gen. S. 
Ivanova, ret.