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Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy



dlj@inforamp.net (David Lloyd-Jones) wrote:

>"On the average" everything is a single number somewhere in the
>middle.  What you say here is true, but only trivially true.
> 
>Yuri's claim was that over the millions of years there has been peace
>and clam, and only in the last few hundred years has there been any
>change.  The average is a technique for lending a spurious
>pluasibility to this absurdity; the gullibility to fall for it is a
>sign of serious innumeracy.

Forget the averages. 

Over just the past 50 years we have experienced more growth in
population and energy consumption than in the millions of years prior.

Over the last 100 years we have finally reduced every area of our
planet - except Antarctica (the last commons) - to negotiable real
estate. Aside from land, air and water, even the genetic structure of
all living beings - including humans - can now be patented and owned.

Over the last 100 years, we have for the first time become able to
affect our environment on a global scale. Global warming is without a
doubt the most powerful accomplishment achieved by humankind. 

Only over the last 100 years have we truly had success in our attempts
to control nature, and I use the term 'success' very loosely. 

As far as our environment and our use of resources are concerned, this
is definitely the storm after the calm.

Comparing our current situation to the past may show us some areas of
improvement, but it also shows us that at no time have we had the
destructive potential that we do now. And that we're not putting that
potential to much better use than we ever have.


Jason McGinnis



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