droo <03dakotacc4.7_4x4@comcast.net> wrote:
: On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:20:56 -0500, <jon@dakota-truck.net> wrote:
:>
:> I don't think the illustration was intended to mean that you
:> could actually set up a functioning living area this way, since
:> you'd need roads and stuff too, its merely a way to try to illustrate
:> the amount of land mass available on the earth in comparison to the
:> number of people - to combat the idea that the earth is overcrowded
:> I suppose. I have a feeling that the people who think the earth
:> is overcrowded are those same people who tend to jam themselves all
:> together in those wretched things called "cities". :-) Flying out
:> to the national DML meet last summer, I was struck more than once by
:> the vast amount of land we have here in the US alone.
: The overcrowding doesn't mean that there won't be nough room for people to
: physically stand on the planet.
True, but again, I think this goes beyond the simple point that the
illustration was trying to make.
: It means that resources arel becomeing
: more scarce. There is only so much arable land available. Sources of fresh
: and clean water are also a concern. Clean water is a large problem for
: many people in the world.
No doubt clean water is a problem in parts of the world, though I
would take issue with the statement that resources are becoming more
scarce. Doomsdayers have been saying we'll run out of this or that
for hundreds of years, but here we all are. Plus, if you look at
the areas where scarcity genuinely *is* a problem, one generally
finds that it is a problem brought about by the government in
that area as opposed to a physical lack of goods and services. There
is nothing wrong with the bleak and starving nations of Africa that
a little capitalism and political freedom wouldn't cure.
: And those "wretched cities" you refer to are an answer to the problem.
Sorry, that was just an attempt to inject a little humor. Although
a city would be my last choice, people are of course, welcome to live
wherever they want. As far as people needing to travel further to
get the services they need and mass transit not being viable for those
folks, well speaking as one of those folks, I *like* having to travel
further for stuff if it means I don't have to live right on top of
somebody else, and I don't *want* to use mass transit. I prefer
the ability to own my own mode of transportation which living in a free
society provides. (Well, wether we actually *are* living in a free
society is definitely up for debate, but lets not get into that right
now.) :-)
: Concentrating large numbers of people in one area preserves land needed
: for crops. It also makes it more effecient to provide services to people.
: Suburban sprawl is the worst thing ever. Towns force developers to build
: houses on 1 acre or larger to minimize population growth. All that does it
: speard a large number of people over a larger area. That sucks up more
: farmland and causes traffic. People need to travel further to get the
: services they need. Mass transit also becomes too expensive to serve those
: communities effectively. I live in New Jersey. I know all about it.
I don't have the numbers right in front of me, but I am pretty
sure that the US is still the world's largest exporter of food and
agriculture. (Even if it isn't still true, the US does export a LOT
of food.) So not only do we have enough land to support our own
supposedly unsustainable level of living, but we have enough left
over to feed the rest of the world too. All this when there is
still a *vast* amount of land available for farming, AND millions upon
millions of acres of actual farmland sitting idle because the US
Government is paying farmers *not* to grow crops, or pressuring them
in other ways to reduce the amount of agricultural activity so as to
artificially inflate prices in certain markets. Something just doesn't
add up here, and I suspect the hysteria about urban sprawl and
diminishing resources is yet another scare tactic based on politics
instead of science.
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
`-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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