Fear of Farming

[santaman2000]

Santaman,
I think one of the more worrying things about China and it's population problems was it's bias towards preferring male children. There's a swath of male children at or coming up to marraigable age (we're talking millions here) that in all reality are never going to be able to find a partner. What are they going to do? They could move; but where? There aren't a huge amount of surplus women anywhere. I doubt you'lk talk them all into same sex relationships? Encourage polygamy? Channel their their energies into into something else? Mabey a large army for hire?
Sorry just spitballing as it's upsets in social orders like that that worry me.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

Ma as well GB. But those are more moral issues than practical ones. At least in comparison with the ratio of working age to those at or near retirement age. I've only read one article on it and that was about a year or so ago.

 

[Goatboy]

Ma as well GB. But those are more moral issues than practical ones. At least in comparison with the ratio of working age to those at or near retirement age. I've only read one article on it and that was about a year or so ago.

I don't know SM. X million amount of frustrated males seems a fairly practicle problem to me. Especially when they are living in a country that is going to be resource & territory hungry. With such a large standing army and all those males in search of an outlet; minerals, oil, land & partners will be a tempting target.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[sandbender]

"... We are the people who have imagination. Other cultures dont seem to be so..."

Tengu you need to get out more, a bus ride across Iran might reveal just how much 'imagination' non European civilisations have had. There are many others.

 

[Dave]

Im with RonW and Mors.
I think it was us british who gave the famous four point blankets to certain native american tribes infected with smallpox etc.
Possibly the earliest case of biological warfare.

The story of smallpox blankets comes from letters of General Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander of the British forces in North America in 1763 during the Seven Years War. In a letter Amherst, who had a dislike and contempt of the indigenous population, made the suggestion to his Colonel Henry Bouquet that smallpox might be introduced to the aboriginal population. Bouquet wrote back saying that perhaps blankets and handkerchiefs could be infected. Scholars do not know if these comments about using smallpox as biological warfare were ever acted upon.

 

[Dave]

RE; Rewilding.

Its an absolute neccesity. I think there's something 'wrong' with the people who cannot see that.

Earth has lost half its wildlife in the past 40 years. Exclusively because of humans. If that figure doesnt shock the hell out of you, and scare you, you're missing something upstairs IMO.

I dont think anyones talking about going backwards either. This is the way forward. I mean its not as though were going to suddenly go back to the stone age and lose all our advances in medicine, science etc.

As societies become more complex they need more complex solutions to solve problems.

The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis.

 

[Goatboy]

Im with RonW and Mors.
I think it was us british who gave the famous four point blankets to certain native american tribes infected with smallpox etc.
Possibly the earliest case of biological warfare.

Not the earliest I think. Tales of diseased animals being catapultted into enemy enclosures , and the Aztecs supposedly had dummies with bee hives inside at points around their defences that when attacked would swarm.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[NoName]

I am not and never into that unethical stuff.

I am in favor for durable ethics.
Witout going in lenths I refer to modern sources as:
- Tom Brown Jr.
- ARK Rewilding Europe
- Buddhist values as compassion and wisdom
- Zen tradition of simplicity
- farming biological dynamic way
- constant gratitude for the natural way: Native indian
- modern education Waldorf school
- modern healtcare combined with ayruveda and traditional Chinese medicine
- attitude of not being the master of This earth als hare krishna's vaisnavas
- simple living high thinking
Etc

 

[Tengu]

Buddhisms a horrid religion, all `me me me`

Regarding the population problem.

I think the ugly reality is some women want children, they insist on children even if their partner doesnt want them, they might try and try again to get children even at risk to their health, and they might not even be able to have healthy children.

They then go to work to raise money for childcare...but hey, they are a mother!

I have seen all this.

I have also seen mothers slated for choosing to stay at home for their children instead of going to work.

I have been slated for not having children.

Tengu (Who is one of those people who is unlikley to be able to have healthy children.)

 

[Toddy]

……..and Tom Brown's a crackpot.

Biological warfare is millenia old. From poisoning wells to castration (routinely done by Viking slavers in many areas) from throwing decomposing corpses into walled enclosures to deliberately introducing disease on fabric, etc..

There is very little new in human aggression, and the human imagination tied with creativity makes for a very dangerous creature indeed.

Re-wilding ? sounds great….until they're eating your crops, your animals, your family. Not so easy in an overcrowded world when every one wants 'more'.

Mothers ? I have two children. I love them both dearly, but I'm a good granny going to waste


M

 

[NoName]

Actually the core of buddhism is about the welbeing of all sentient beings

I did not want to speak about the vaisnava view of surrender

The old books and views of Tom Brown are really Nice. Goes further then any more famous bushcrafters.

 

[NoName]

It's actually quite shocking for me to be confronted with the views of some people here.
I mean their main subject is Nature, living with Nature and the ways in which we deal with Nature. So probably all the hours in the Woods did not sink in something in a lot of People here.

I also see it with a lot of recreational fishers and hunters....the do not give a f f about the source.

Maybe for me time to take a step back here.

 

[Toddy]

I am a very grounded realist Mors, and I have studied human history and it's impact on the land and creatures we share this planet with.
I know how much work it is for most of the world's human population simply to survive and rear their children. We're sitting here discussing it in the very wealthy industrialised first world though.

However, I am also an unrepentant optimist and I have never lost my heartfelt calm and quiet delight in the natural world around us

M

 

[santaman2000]

……..and Tom Brown's a crackpot.

Biological warfare is millenia old. From poisoning wells to castration (routinely done by Viking slavers in many areas) from throwing decomposing corpses into walled enclosures to deliberately introducing disease on fabric, etc......

Perhaps a bit pedantic, but "poisoning" wells is chemical warfare rather than biological.

 

[Toddy]

Well, not if they drop corpses down them.

At the end of the day though, we're all chemical really

M

 

[hughlle1]

Without the 'It all went wrong - we're doomed' phooey, It raises an interesting point.

Can mankind find an environmental balance, where intensive modern farming can meet the demand of population, while leaving enough space for nature to thrive?

You'll never rid the human race of it's insatiable greed, so i very much doubt it. If the above scenario were o happen, then some chap would just turn around and say look at you lot minimizing your profits by taking care of the environment, i'll just say to hell with the environment and have more money and power than you.

Hell, we can't even create a quota (e.g fishing) and have people obey it.

 

[mrcharly]

Hell, we can't even create a quota (e.g fishing) and have people obey it.

Quite

Common sense says non-fishing areas are a good thing for environment and (in medium-long term) the fishing industry, but can we successfully create them? Like heck we can.

 

[Goatboy]

Quite

Common sense says non-fishing areas are a good thing for environment and (in medium-long term) the fishing industry, but can we successfully create them? Like heck we can.

Like the Cod Wars between 1415-1976. Amazed we ever sorted it out.

 

[boatman]

Have created some non-fishing areas in the South-West. See also Bass Nurseries.

 

[boatman]

Frustrated non-Grandparent too and I worry how many bright etc people are not having children in Europe.

 

[hughlle1]

Quite

Common sense says non-fishing areas are a good thing for environment and (in medium-long term) the fishing industry, but can we successfully create them? Like heck we can.

And even when we do successfully create them, or where regulations are observed, some MNE often just goes and screws it all up. Whether this is the BP oil spill in the gulf, or whether this is an english company just saying you know what, just dump it all in the thames. How many times have i read stories on these well maintained Thames fishing spots being devastated by a half million litres of sewage being dumped into the river.

This is one of the reasons i like the idea of bushcraft skills, and especially homesteading. Gives you the ability to move somewhere where these instances are minimized, and it is you who are responsible for wildlife populations etc. The western world has changed irriversibly due to suppermarkets etc. There is no longer any connection with the origin of your oven-ready chicken. Sure we might buy organic or free range, but that is the limit of our interest. We have no real understanding of the idea of a diet based on sustainability of the food involved. More the merrier!

While i know it was good intentions, it really annoyed me when folk like Jamie Oliver highlights how something trashy (apparently mackerel is trash??) is so great, and all of a sudden instead of simply eating it, we eat it by the thousand and suddenly we have yet another species with dwindling stocks.