Bill Truesdell:  “We actually have the science, desire and affluence to do 
something about our problems.”

     I agree.  Do you suppose that we could use those assets to figure out 
how to feed everyone without burning the ecological candle at both ends?    
I'm concerned that if we take the position that everything is fine, and 
don’t agressively question where our practices might be taking us to in the 
future, we are going to be, and in fact have been, traveling blind.  Human 
nature being what it is, science and technology are just as likely to be 
used to solve our most immediate need for material gratification as they 
are to be used for securing a healthy environment for the future.  Perhaps 
it’s this short sighted aspect of our nature that needs closer examination, 
especially in relation to how, in our hell bent pursuit of wealth and 
comfort, we may tend to overlook certain inconvenient realities.  I almost 
said truths.   
      "Luddites" are of value in that they annoyingly force us to put the 
brakes on and examine more closely whether what we are doing really makes 
sense in a meaningfully broad context.  I have no doubt that we humans are 
capable of racing head long to a certain doom - victims of our own 
insatiability.  I also know that science and technology along with common 
sense and healthy skepticism will be indispensable to our continued success 
as a species, but we can’t be objective about the usefulness of our 
inventions without being able to examine our motives for using them with 
ruthless detachment.  
     Maybe the reason we spend so little of our income on food is because 
we aren’t paying the full cost of that food.  Maybe the reason we pay so 
little attention to the real cost of our food is because paying the full 
cost would mean having to give up something else.  Do you see how 
objectivity gets lost in that shuffle?  You don’t have to imagine how, 
without stiff resistance from the “Luddites” of the world, all objectivity 
on the part of chemical companies, when it comes to evaluating anything 
that might adversely impact revenue, would tend to suffer a similar fate?
  
Steve Noble
Thinking anything Bill Treusdell says will here-to-for be taken in 
consideration of the fact that, as a kid, he played in clouds of DDT.  ;>)

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************