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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Global Food Supply Near the Breaking Point

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  • From: "Bart Anderson" <bart@cwo.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Global Food Supply Near the Breaking Point
  • Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 10:54:30 -0700

Toby H. wrote:
"It's a dilemma: if we try to "feed the world," by releasing all that grain,
population will simply increase further, followed in a couple of decades by
a colossal die-off of billions when the oil runs out. If we withhold that
oil-based food now, hundreds of millions or more will starve sooner. The
"logical" thing to do is to let the smaller number starve now and avoid a
much more massive humanitarian and ecological (as we pillage the earth in
desperation) disaster in the future. But the moral choice is to keep people
alive: oil-based life support for a terminal population."

Who is the "we" that will be making these life-and-death decisions? When
do "we" get to vote on these decisions?

Although I agree with most everything else that Toby has said, this way of
framing the issue doesn't make any sense at all. It hides the real
political choices and obscures the real situation.

It conjures up scary images and makes us revert to us-or-them thinking.
It's the dark side of Doomerism and Malthusianism. Not far behind are
draconian proposals and fascism (for example, the BNP in the UK).

Can we step back a minute and see what's really going on?

Most oil is currently used for transportation, not food. The US and other
industrialized countries use many times the amount of oil as Third World
countries. In the US, our political choice is -- do we continue being
oil-hogs, or do we start to become more sustainable?

Another real choice: do we encourage consumerism through our purchases and
voites? Our choices have a multiplier effect, since US lifestryles are
copied throughout the world.

Finally - and this is where permaculture is so powerful - can we change the
dominant paradigm away from the fossil-fuel lifestyle?





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