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  • From: Sean Maley <semaley@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] " Is Sustainable Agriculture an Oxymoron?"
  • Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 12:55:00 -0700 (PDT)

Excellent article. I did, however, notice a lack of the Malthusian concepts
behind Jason
Godesky's site.

First, surplus drives the population growth. Because there is no surplus in
horticultural and
foraging cultures, there is no inherent population growth (population follows
the food supply).

http://www.ishmael.com/Education/Writings/kentstate.shtml

Second, having a surplus to distribute creates a need for a distribution
point, or marketplace,
for that surplus. Those who bring this surplus into the marketplace from the
closest farms get
the upper hand in terms of getting the most favorable exchanges (less rot
time and more time to
tend fields), which translates to land ownership.

Those who can't compete, as a result of "owning" less favorable land, face
selling their land,
getting a job at a more successful farm, or over working their land for short
term survival.
Without land, one must find a job to pay rent and for all of the things you
can't get because you
don't own land.

http://www.henrygeorge.org/rent1.htm

Over time, wages decline as rent rises. The least capable workers become
poor. Poor become
hungry and homeless. Surplus leads to distribution points and a growing
population, which leads
to an ever growing population of people left starving, slaving (compelled to
work for another's
benefit), and homeless.


-Sean.

--- Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com> wrote:

> Jim,
> Toby just put it online and I added a link to it at the Activist site.
>
> http://patternliteracy.com/sustag.html
>
> Keith
>
> Jim Eldon wrote:
> > Do you have this editorial in electronic version? It's a hot topic I'd
> > like
> > to circulate around my organic farming community.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jim
> >
>
> --
> Keith Johnson
> Permaculture Activist Magazine
> PO Box 5516
> Bloomington, IN 47408
> (812) 335-0383
> http://www.permacultureactivist.net
> also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
>
>
>
> --
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>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
>


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