We humans like our dualities: "It's either this, or it's that." It's my suspicion—and, I realize, a constant theme in my work—that reality might better be described in terms of complex continuums.
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adv. archaic. toward what place, in what direction [1150-1200, Middle English]
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4 comments:
Something that interests me is whether or not the giant agribusiness would be able to function without huge government hand-outs.
I dunno if you noticed but I wrote a response to the food race, which will be a first of a series of exchanges, due to an exchange at a blog I read.
I invite your criticisms.
I doubt that the government subsidies will cease before peak oil makes mass fertilizer application impossible...
Perhaps, but the only reason that they are economically feasible at the moment (and part of the reason that the third world remains impoverished) is because of subsidies. If, for instance, cotton subsidies in the US were eliminated, US cotton could not compete with cotton produced in Africa (all this relies on cheap transport provided by oil of course; but one thing at a time). A competitive African cotton industry would help improve quality of life there, and perhaps allow them to develop productive infrastructure of their own, becoming less reliant on (subsidized) US food crops. It's a mad, mad cycle.
If our population weren't so cowed by Desperate Housewives and debating whether or not we should lynch congressmen who send insinuating msgs to young men, maybe they would do something about it.
Oh, it's much more complex than a mere "mad cycle": it's a huge snarl of cycles, spirals, zigs and zags.
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