RE: against everything?

Hal Hamilton (hhamilton@centerss.org)
Tue, 10 Feb 1998 15:51:26 -0500

Rich, If you've ever had to keep a bunch of livestock
healthy through a blizzard, you want all the help you can
get-barns, heaters, tractors that start, etc.. I'm all for
coexisting with natural systems, but we are in fact
participants in a "civilization" that is a long way from
simple coexistence. We're managers of natural forces, for
better or worse. We need more than science to understand,
perhaps intuit is a better word, natural systems. We need
to be respectful and live within limits. But we are also
responsible.

Also, just to be a little more argumentative,
profit-seeking spurs exploitation and it spurs creative
hard work.

I guess I'm primarily arguing against overly simplistic
diagnoses of our condition. Hal

Hal Hamilton
Center for Sustainable Systems
433 Chestnut St., Berea KY 40403
Phone: (606) 986-5336
Fax: (606) 986-1299
Hhamilton@centerss.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Rich Molini [SMTP:richmo@indy.net]
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 1998 9:38 AM
To: Hal Hamilton
Cc: sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu
Subject: Re: against everything?

Hal,
The true "scientific urge" should be directed in efforts
to understand
and coexist with natural systems rather than trying to
circumvent or
destroy them. True science has always primarily been the
investigation.
It is only within the last 100 years or so that it has been
defiled to
pure profit. And during this same time we have also
discovered that
there are consequences to human activities, yet the
increasing distance
from natural systems and board room decisions precludes a
holistic
approach. If 1% of the human and natural resources that
agribusiness
expends in control technology was spent toward coexistent
ends , all the
earths inhabitants would benefit not simply short term
gains for CEOs
and shareholders.
Later,
Rich Molini
Indiana Chapter-OCIA
Atlanta, Indiana

Hal Hamilton wrote:
>
> I feel rather embarrassed by how many people seem to be
> against "genetic manipulation" on principle-what about
Wes
> Jackson's plant breeding experiments in Kansas? And I'm
> similarly embarrassed by those who seem against
government
> involvement in product regulation (Organic Standards)-are
> you also against building highways and enforcing speed
> limits? As a former dairy farmer, I think BST both
stupid
> and probably dangerous. Of course the USDA screwed up
the
> recommendations of the NOSB. Of course Monsanto etc. are
> primarily interested in profits, and of course they have
> considerable power to influence government. But our
> "movement" will doom itself to permanent marginality if
we
> decide to 1) hold the line against history rather than 2)
> blaze new trails and pull history along. The scientific
> urge to discover new ways to increase yields, resist
pests,
> etc. can be symbiotic with sustainable ag. Similarly,
> democratically accountable government is the only
> institution that could (theoretically) be powerful enough
> to restrain market forces for the public good.
>
> Hal Hamilton
> Center for Sustainable Systems
> 433 Chestnut St., Berea KY 40403
> Phone: (606) 986-5336
> Fax: (606) 986-1299
> Hhamilton@centerss.org
>
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