Comments on: Mounting Stresses, Failing States

By: JBob

JBob — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:10:09 +0000

You mean the states that enslave us to pay for their imperial wars and occupations, billion dollar bailouts for their banker buddies, militarized police forces to keep us all in fear and obedient, and whatever other bureaucratic apparatus is needed to surveil, control, and brainwash us? Seems like failure might be a good thing if these are the goals.

By: Isaac

Isaac — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:40:32 +0000

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, allow him healthy water to fish in and he can feed himself for a lifetime.

By: Aaeron Robb

Aaeron Robb — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:45:15 +0000

We as a world must begin the process of assisting all nations to be independent.Starting in our own backyards we must develop smart grids to receive every new sustainable,fossil free,nuclear free and food competition free,[like corn based ethanol],power plants.Follow this new grid with energy projects that will use viable opportunities like biodigester electric and methane gas ,[for a secondary heat source], in stockyard animal farm country or wind energy electricity generation in the Dakotas to Texas wind corridor.This investment alone will not only slow down further global warming which affects all countries,but hits impoverished nations the hardest and arid places in the most traumatic manner. It will also allow us all to ultimately have the where with all to gain energy independence and save massive numbers of lives and properties from the destruction of wars primarily fought for the control of extracted resources.We can then use freed up financial resources to apply the same technologies to all new construction,[using available energy on site,like sun exposure or ground source heating or cooling],and retrofit all existing structures with same criteria.In locations where the environment is in need of remediation and salvation the proven applications of permaculture could be applied and the road to food independence could begin.We have to assist the people of nations in their need first and not allow any surplus food in the world to be destroyed and instead distributed equally in an international program world wide to all in need with out undermining any nations own agricultural communities.When people are fed they have the strength to build their own society,heal their piece of the planet. This model would work every where with regional and cultural tweaks. Most people want to help themselves and most people want to help those who want to help themselves.This is just the opening salvo in a discussion I hope will continue to manifest in real ways and not fester as an intellectual impotent dream that could have been.

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:56:38 +0000

Interesting reading Lester but (at least in reading this) you seem to over look the fact that its not only 3rd world countries that are ‘failing states’, first world governments are hanging on by the skin of their teeth trying to uphold a system that simply doesn’t work and trying to establish a global model of something that is already broken won’t fix the problems we face.
If we can get everyone to focus on fixing up our own back yards, then we can venture out to help our brothers and sisters by helping them learn how to fix their own back yards.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for a life time.

Craig