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Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy



Jay Hanson (jhanson@ilhawaii.net) wrote:

: Here is my working definition of carrying capacity:

: "Carrying capacity is the maximum load that can be exerted
:  on a life support system by a population of animals without
:  damaging the system itself.  When a population exceeds
:  carrying capacity it is known as 'overshoot'."

So if somebody, somwhere burns a single gallon of gasoline,
the system has been damaged?  You certainly imply this
below when you talk about "all technology."

It follows that you've defined carrying capacity to be zero.

: It follows that carrying capacity can not be raised by a
: technology that either results in a net draw-down of
: non-renewable resources or pollutes sinks faster than they
: can be naturally cleansed. (I think this includes nearly
: all technology.)

: Instead of actually raising carrying capacity, technology
: "temporarily" allows more animals to survive.  At some
: point, populations MUST fall to (or below) carrying
: capacity. (Populations MUST fall because of the way
: carrying capacity is defined.)

: Here is a particularly important point to remember --
:  it gets right to the heart of your question:
:  
:  CARRYING CAPACITY IS CALCULATED IN A SPECIFIC REGION
:  USING ACTUAL ANIMALS ACTING AS THEY NATURALLY DO --
:  NOT SOME  HYPOTHETICAL SET OF ANIMALS THAT MIGHT BE
:  SUBSTITUTED FOR THE ACTUAL ONES.

: In other words, if humans are greedy, stupid and violent
: now, then science must assume that they will remain so.

: Conversely, if humans actually DO manage to somehow
: change their behavior for the better, then carrying
: capacity goes up.  For example, Earth might be able
: to support 6 billion Amish.

: Jay

--
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Scott Susin                                   "Time makes more converts than   
Department of Economics                        Reason"                      
U.C. Berkeley                                  Thomas Paine, _Common_Sense_



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