permaculture

["Michele May" <mmay.lmft@cox.net>]

History like that would change us all!  I would like to read more, please suggest some sources.

 

Thanks:

 

Michele

 

We haven't been the first nation to work itself out of an environment. 4-5,000 years ago the Indus Valley civilizations created a system of irrigation that made the desert bloom, making possible for the first time in that region concentrations of many thousands of people under one nation. Naturally, they wanted to create mighty capitols for the extra people to live in. So they designed gigantic brick metropolises like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, with wide avenues and built-in sewer systems, laid out on the world's first grid plan.

The only problem was that in order to fire all that brick they had to cut down all their available forests to make charcoal. And once they did that, the albedo was changed and the rain moved away. That was around 1700 BC, and the rain hasn't moved back since. Today, hardly anyone lives there. It seems we haven't learned much from history. Maybe we're not bright enough to learn from the experience of others, and have to repeat the experience ourselves for it to sink in. I hope not-- it's a nice planet, and still has some freshness left.

So get the word out about sustainable use. We expect to have eleven billion people here within the next fifty years. They're all going to want an SUV. I think education is the answer.

Mike Elvin