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Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy





On 15 Nov 1996, Mike Asher wrote:

> Yuri Kuchinsky <bg364@torfree.net> wrote:
> > 
> > : It would also be my guess that at the turn of the century there were
> > : 800 million hungry out of a population of a billion.
> > 
> > How do you know this? The number of hungry people on the planet is now 
> > greater than ever!
> > 
> 
> The FAO figures you quote indicate "malnourished" people.  FAO classifies
> people with sufficient caloric intake, but with a diet 'insufficiently
> varied' as malnourished as well.   Still a problem, of course, but please
> define it properly.
> 
> In Medieval times, 90+% of the population was chronically malnourished.  A
> man was deemed well off if he ate meat once a week.  Most children suffered
> from rickets and other defiency conditions.  Many castles and manor homes
> tossed trenchers (crusts of bread) and other dinner-table scraps to hungry
> people who clustered outside, who fought bitterly for line rights.  Often,
> a government official would, upon their yearly visit to a village, find
> that starvation and disease had wiped out the entire populace sometime in
> the past year, with none the wiser.
> 
> Beer was widely consumed, by children and adults, as water was too
> dangerous to drink.  When you did drink river water, you were taught to
> "strain" it between your teeth to remove the larger creatures found
> naturally in it.
> 
> Even the wealthy had their problems.  Food poisoning was endemic, fruits
> and vegetables were unknown out of season, seafood was impossible unless
> you lived near the coast, and at thirty-five, you needed soft food as your
> teeth had all rotted out...unless an abcessed tooth killed you, as was
> quite common.
> 
> This is the true world of 'organic' farming, biomass power, and
> deindustrialization many environmentalists would have us return to.  I'd
> prefer to work out our problems and stay here.

Mike, your description of medieval times was interesting, but does nothing
to buttress your last paragraph. It is complete fabrication.  The question
is, why do yuo persist in such poor attempts at propaganda? Is every issue
merely entertainment for you? Are you surprised that you get a lot of
replies that are all sarcasm and invective? Did you laugh when Bush called
Al Gore "Captain Ozone"? Do you want anyone to take you seriously outside
of a small circle of ideologically rigid compatriots? Do you see that I am
reduced to asking rhetorical questions, becasue substantive debate with
you is apparently impossible?.

		Dave Braun

> 
> --
> Mike Asher
> masher@tusc.net
> 
> "We must make this an insecure an uninhabitable place for capitalists and
> their projects.  This is the best contribution we can make towards
> protecting the earth."
>    - Environmental organization 'Ecotage', Earth First! offshoot.
> 
> 
> 




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