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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (804)	4/12/1999 10:28:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36917

There is no danger in overpopulation to the West, we have the stability and the money to weather a storm. The danger lies in the third world and its ability to cope, with itself. You must be some kind of college professor D.... <VBG> But you summed up my thinking rather well and far more articulately. Just as in an individual country, when you have a great disparity between rich and poor, eventually you will find the poor resorting to violent means to seize what they perceive is their fair share. Whether they claim they are fighting colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism... or what have you, gov't leaders in underdeveloped nations will continue to mask their own corruption, cronyism, and inefficiency behind fancy nationalistic propaganda. Worked for Hitler, Milosevic, Khomeni, Assad, and just about any other despot/dictator you might think of. They know it will work for them as well. Nonetheless, I still believe it is imperative that the 1st world economies continue to strive to empower positive economic and political changes. Actually, I was discussing this very topic the other day with a Jamaican fellow who works at the World Bank. Given the lack of power in the lower classes there, the discussion arose as to how to create political empowerment at the local level. My somewhat general response was that whatever form it took it had to be non-violent, create local centers of education and credit, and essentially act within the system in such a way that the ruling elite were not overtly challenged and that change came non-provocatively and incrementally. He seemed to like the concept, so who knows.. maybe the bug I put in his ear will lead him to a political career and eventually change in that nation. Then again, maybe I was just fooling myself... :0) Regards, Ron

To: D. Long who wrote (804)	4/12/1999 11:19:00 PM
From: pezz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36917

<<Tax incentives are government coercion on its citizens to adopt a course of action it deems worthwhile.>> OK.........Well then lets remove the deduction for children!This is a policy is encouraging more children as well as being unfair. Why should those who have one or no children pay the taxes for those who have many? If you can't afford children then you shouldn't have them. Not to ask the taxpayers to finance them for you. <<only a fraction of the worlds agricultural capacity is tapped to its limit. >> << no incentive for Vietnam for example to carve rice patties out of the hills,>>I guess my last post was so long winded that you couldn't wade through it. The point is I don't think that we should put every piece of land into production. Leave some for wild life.Maybe VietNam should leave the hills as they are,no? The main function of the environmental movement is to preserve the natural world. Not just to see how many humans we can stuff on this planet. With so much at stake I just don't see why the reluctance to the two child family. It seems that it is easy to blame big corporations for environmental problems .We can recycle or point the finger .But just don't ask Americans to make any real change in life style themselves <<The third world is the problem area >> It is the potential problem. But as the developed world continues to produces the vast majority of the pollution and uses the bulk of the worlds natural resources we are the problem! The only hope we have of convincing the third world to consider the consequences of their breeding habits is to demonstrate a responsibility of our own. << There is no danger in overpopulation to the West, we have the stability and the money to weather a storm>> At what cost to the environment?? This is the environmental thread remember? Not who will survive the longest thread! pez