http://zone5.org/2007/04/the-curse-of-akkad/ ...on the edge between Nature and Culture Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:18:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://zone5.org/2007/04/the-curse-of-akkad/comment-page-1/#comment-2134 Rebecca Redfield Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:09:00 +0000 http://zone5.org/2007/04/08/the-curse-of-akkad/#comment-2134 <p>Hello. I'd like to add my thanks to Donna's regarding the mention of human population overshoot. Almost nobody is giving this issue the coverage it needs. I recently read Pearce's book - here in the U. S. it's published under the title With Speed and Violence. I've also read quite a few other books on global warming in the last year and a half: The Winds of Change, by Eugene Linden; The Weather Makers, by Tim Flannery; The Revenge of Gaia, by James Lovelock; The Ravaging Tide, by Mike Tidwell, and Hell and High Water, by Joseph Romm. All are excellent and thought-provoking as far as they go, but none comes down hard enough, to my way of thinking, on the population issue. Forty or fifty years ago, Paul Ehrlich warned us: " Whatever your cause, it's a lost cause if we don't solve the population problem," and Garrett Hardin told us, "Freedom to breed will bring ruin to all." Richard Heinberg, in chapter 6 of Powerdown, discusses the reasons environmentalists no longer talk about population, as do Leon Kolankiewicz and Roy Beck in their paper, Forsaking Fundamentals, available online at the Center for Immigration Studies website. Food for thought about this most fundamental of all issues. Sorry my browser isn't allowing me to italicize titles... Thanks for listening.</p> Hello. I’d like to add my thanks to Donna’s regarding the mention of human population overshoot. Almost nobody is giving this issue the coverage it needs. I recently read Pearce’s book – here in the U. S. it’s published under the title With Speed and Violence. I’ve also read quite a few other books on global warming in the last year and a half: The Winds of Change, by Eugene Linden; The Weather Makers, by Tim Flannery; The Revenge of Gaia, by James Lovelock; The Ravaging Tide, by Mike Tidwell, and Hell and High Water, by Joseph Romm. All are excellent and thought-provoking as far as they go, but none comes down hard enough, to my way of thinking, on the population issue. Forty or fifty years ago, Paul Ehrlich warned us: ” Whatever your cause, it’s a lost cause if we don’t solve the population problem,” and Garrett Hardin told us, “Freedom to breed will bring ruin to all.” Richard Heinberg, in chapter 6 of Powerdown, discusses the reasons environmentalists no longer talk about population, as do Leon Kolankiewicz and Roy Beck in their paper, Forsaking Fundamentals, available online at the Center for Immigration Studies website. Food for thought about this most fundamental of all issues. Sorry my browser isn’t allowing me to italicize titles… Thanks for listening.

]]> http://zone5.org/2007/04/the-curse-of-akkad/comment-page-1/#comment-2126 Graham Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:59:54 +0000 http://zone5.org/2007/04/08/the-curse-of-akkad/#comment-2126 <p>Thanks Donna. I also have a review of "When the Rivers Run Dry" which I shall post here soon. And "Overshoot" should be on everyone's top 10 books to read.</p> Thanks Donna. I also have a review of “When the Rivers Run Dry” which I shall post here soon. And “Overshoot” should be on everyone’s top 10 books to read.

]]> http://zone5.org/2007/04/the-curse-of-akkad/comment-page-1/#comment-2122 Donna Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:46:50 +0000 http://zone5.org/2007/04/08/the-curse-of-akkad/#comment-2122 <p>Excellent review. I read Kolbert's book but have yet to see Pearce's. Just read a different book by Fred Pearce, <em>When the Rivers Run Dry</em>--another must-read: Dams are evil (my word, not the author's), they totally destroy ecosystems, and they aren't going to save agriculture. I'm also gratified that this reviewer mentions the lack of emphasis on population overshoot, the root cause of the whole damn mess of climate change. No one's been brave enough to broach this yet, save Catton in his book <em>Overshoot</em>--a tough slog, but absolutely worth it. Read this, and you will be enlightened.</p> Excellent review. I read Kolbert’s book but have yet to see Pearce’s. Just read a different book by Fred Pearce, When the Rivers Run Dry–another must-read: Dams are evil (my word, not the author’s), they totally destroy ecosystems, and they aren’t going to save agriculture. I’m also gratified that this reviewer mentions the lack of emphasis on population overshoot, the root cause of the whole damn mess of climate change. No one’s been brave enough to broach this yet, save Catton in his book Overshoot–a tough slog, but absolutely worth it. Read this, and you will be enlightened.

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