The Greenless Greens who support the Urbanization of the Countryside. |
|||
This article has been taken from sp11 published july 19th 1999. Bahro, Rudolf.
"If we want to arrive at ectopia we must
not work towards renovating Frankfurt but rather towards clearing and
dismantling it."[104] Banuri, Tariq & Marglin, Frederique
Apffel
These authors want the rural people who have left
the countryside for urban areas to move back to the countryside. They
believe that local people are the best at looking after local ecologies,
“It should also be remembered that these forests (in the South) were preserved
and protected for centuries by the same local villagers, and were decimated
(within decades) only when villagers lost control of the forests to urban
and commercial interests.”[105] It has to be suggested, however, that the
pressure on Forests has increased because of the increasing birth rates
of local people. Colchester, Marcus
Colchester also wants rural people in urban
areas to move back to the countryside. He questions how much economic
and financial support they might need for this return, “Land reformers
also face the dilemma of how much assistance to provide without creating
dependency and undermining peasant initiative. Newly resettled farmers
may require the provision of considerable agricultural extension facilities
and infrastructure investments( roads, housing, schools, dispensaries)
before they become familiar with their new surroundings and able to work
the land well.”[106]
He too supports the fantasy that Forests have been inhabited by oomans
ever since oomans appeared on Earth, “For, despite the prevalence of myths
about .. ‘virgin forests’, the forests have been inhabited for thousands
of years. Few areas of forest are unused or unclaimed by local communities.”[107]
According to this anthropocentric logic even when there were only two
oomans on Earth they still owned all the Earth’s Forests. Dauncey, Guy.
Dobson, Andrew.
Flavin, Christopher
Flavin believes that solar power
will be the main means of enabling people to invade the countryside whether
this might be the poor in third world or the rich in the over-industrialized
world. He believes
solar power will enable consumers in the over-industrialized world to
build second homes in Wilderness areas, “The use of solar electric systems
in rural homes is growing in industrial countries as well, spurred by
the popularity of vacation cabins and the cost of reaching them with power
lines, which in the united states runs between $13,500 and $33,000 per
kilometre for even small local distribution lines. In contrast a 500-watt
pv system - enough to power an efficient home’s lights, radio, television,
and computer - would cost less than $15,000 including batteries for storage.
Norway already has 50,000 pv powered country homes, and an additional
8,000 are being “solarized” each year. Among the other leaders in pv home
installations are spain, switzerland and the united states. All four nations
have extensive forests or mountains and a middle class with the money
and leisure time to enjoy them.”[110] He complains the invasion of the countryside
in third world countries is being held up by governments investing too
much money in grid electricity rather than solar power .. “solar electrification
projects start with a large disadvantage, since most developing country
governments heavily subsidize the extension of grid electricity to rural
areas, as well as the installation of diesel water pumps.”[111] This so-called green is encouraging the
destruction of the Earth’s life support system. It is just impossible to call
such a person a green. He’s an Earth-rapist. If the car helped to open up
Wilderness areas for hunters and recreational users who’s respect for
Wilderness and Animals was negligible, then photovoltaics is the means for
destroying the wildness of Wilderness areas. Goldsmith, Edward.
Edward goldsmith is another major supporter of the
mass invasion of the countryside. What is so surprising about his position
is that although he’s one of the founders of the green movement and highly
indebted to the ideas of james lovelock, his rationale for encouraging
people back into the countryside has nothing to do with geophysiology
but with ecological factors. He believes that moving back to the land
would solve a range of urban problems, “In fact, if you were to restore
your small farms, bring people back to the land, you’d be solving all
sorts of urban problems .. from crime and delinquency, of unemployment,
to the massive problems of putting up safe housing everywhere; all these
problems would be solved, you see, if you were to return more people to
the lands and re-establish the small farm.”[112] Goldsmith is quite right to argue that the capital intensive
approach to agricultural production is less efficient than labour intensive
production, “To begin with, the bigger farm does increase yield per unit
of labour, but not yields per unit of land used. .. even m.s. fuminuthan,
the father of the green revolution in india, admits that the right size
farm for india is 2.5 acres. It’s small farms that maximize food production
not big farms.”[113] This, of course, would help to produce more
food to help overcome starvation but it would also boost ooman numbers
thereby increasing geophysiological damage. However, the capital intensive
approach to livestock farming is far more efficient than the extensive
approach approved by greens. The fundamental problem with goldsmith’s
approach is that he doesn’t carry out a geophysiological assessment of
his policies to determine whether they would ruin or rejuvenate the Earth’s
life support system. Goldsmith, Edward; Nicholas Hildyard;
Patrick McCully & Peter Bunyard.
“City life is marked by consumption and waste. Cities,
however small, have always been parasitic on the countryside around them,
not least because the majority of their inhabitants must rely on farmers
in the countryside to provide them with food. Where cities are small,
and the demands of their citizens limited, the degradation caused need
not undermine their viability. But the demands being made by city-dwellers
today, particularly in the industrialized countries are global in their
reach, and global in their implications. Meeting even the demands of present
day cities is placing an intolerable burden on the environment and society
as more and more resources are sucked into urban conglomerations.”[114] Kemp, Penny @ Wall, Derek.
"Greens believe that more people should have
access to the land and would end the current stranglehold of large landowners
by means of grants and a system of community ground rent designed to split
land holdings of many thousands of acres. Greens would like to see more
people living in rural areas."[115] Lanz, Klaus.
“If current forecasts are to be believed, almost
half of humanity will be living in cities by the year 2000. This trend
should be halted or at least slowed, and incentives provided to persuade
people to live in rural areas or in smaller towns.”[116] Lorimer, Hayden.
“The moneyed classes’ enthusiasm for Deer stalking
is keeping vast tracts of scotland as an artificial, empty environment
and preventing its productive use by ordinary people. Hayden lorimer,
from loughborough university said, “Crofters had been cleared off by enclosures,
and were replaced by huge Sheep farms. Deer stalking was only introduced
in the 19thc after the Sheep farms went bankrupt. Landowners argued that
the estates preserved scotland’s natural heritage. Mr lorimer said that
to prevent criticism of their occupation of large estates kept empty just
for Deer, the “lairdocracy” managed to propagate a myth of their history
and legitimacy.”[117] Melchett, Peter; Charlie Pye-Smith &
Chris Hall
Charlie pye-smith and chris hall were members
of an informal group called the ‘1999 committee’ which produced a manifesto
to promote the rejuvenation of rural areas, “We need a new vision of what
our countryside should be and a manifesto to achieve it. That is what
this book provides.”[118]; “The Countryside we want’ is a practical
programme of reforms for revitalizing rural britain and halting the many
destructive processes which yearly make it a less attractive place to
live in and visit. We want a diverse countryside in which a multiplicity
of activities can take place.”[119];
“We are concerned with revitalizing the countryside. Something must be
done, and done quickly, about the shortage of housing, the decline of
public transport and the loss of jobs .. We must also create the opportunities
for the less affluent town-dwellers to move into the countryside and to
work in it if they wish.”[120] Meldrum, Andrew
Meldrum paints a very rosy picture of the campfire
programme in some third world countries which enables local people to
benefit from the slaughter of Animals in safari parks. Whereas in the
past local people used to slaughter Wildlife in order to survive, they
now fly in rich hunters to do the killing for them and make a good living
from blood sport tourism. Whereas in the past the area would never have
been able to sustain anything more than tribal lifestyles, the money from
tourism is enabling Wilderness areas to become semi-urbanized. If los
vegas was built in the middle of nowhere by criminal activities, campfire
villages are springing up as a result of the criminal destruction of Wildlife,
“The (zimbabwe) government has set aside 10,700 square kilometres in northern
zimbabwe to form the zambezi valley wilderness complex, an area which
boasts the 2,196 square kilometre mana pools national park. .. the dande
safari area - the 520 square kilometres set aside for hunting. “Hunting
is the only hope for game to survive in africa,” says harry. “Wildlife
must pay its way or humans will take over. We hunt a sustainable quota
of 3% per year. And that earns a great deal of money used to preserve
the Wilderness needed by the Animals.” Zimbabwe attracts about one million
tourists a year and hunting brings in about 2,000 clients, who spend
atotal of $20 million. The Dande area is part of zimbabwe’s Campfire programme,
which channels a significant proportion of the money earned from hunting
to the rural people who live among the wildlife. (The meat from hunted
Wildlife is shared amongst) 210 families registered with the local Campfire
programme .. Far more significant to the masoka community is the money
earned from hunting. “We have earned Z$500,000 (£31,250) each year for
the past three years,” says joseph chisunga, masoka’s wildlife committee
treasurer. “We have used that money to develop our community. We have
built a new school block and a health clinic, we have purchased a tractor
for tillage. We erected a solar-powered electric fence to protect our
agricultural land from the Wildlife. Gift Zirota, the wildlife chairperson,
explains how the programme has changed the community’s attitude towards
wildlife, “Ten years ago, the animals destroyed our crops and attacked
us. Now with Campfire, we get meat plus money from hunting. The wildlife
is now an asset and we look after them. We do not allow poachers. We welcome
hunters because they help us to improve our community. Campfire’s pioneering
concept, to balance the needs of africa’s rural people with wildlife,
has already spread to zambia, namibia, and south africa. Throughout zimbabwe,
Campfire schemes last year earned more than Z$13 million (£812,000) for
rural communities. The number of communities participating has grown from
15 in 1989 to more than 100 in 1996.”[121] Norberg-Hodge, Helena
Norberg-hodge defends the urbanization of the countryside,
“An equally common myth that clouds thinking about more human scale rural
economies is that “there are too many people to go back to the land”.
It is noteworthy that a similar scepticism does not accompany the notion
of urbanizing the world’s population. It is considered ‘utopian’ to suggest
a ruralization of america’s or europe’s population; but china’s plans
to move 440 million people into the cities during the next few decades
hardly raises eyebrows.”[122] North, Richard.
Pearce, Fred.
Botswana’s government and scientists oppose
.. “the traditional cattle herders and hunter-gatherer bushmen operating
within the central kalahari game reserve. The arid reserve, which is about
the size of switzerland, was set up in 1961, five years before botswana’s
independence. In the mid-1980s, a system of zoning was created under which
two central areas will be kept “pristine” - that is devoid of people.”[124]
What this seems to suggest is that fred pearce finds it revolting that
oomans are not in occupation of every single acre of the Earth.[125] Pilarski, Michael.
“In the 1970s ‘community forestry’ was the watchword
for development agencies. But all too often the phrase was used as a cover
for industrial wood production projects which did little good for local
people, especially the rural poor. In the 1980s, a new phrase is being
heard more and more ‘social forestry’ i.e. forestry projects which benefit
the local community .. .”[126] Porritt, Jonathon.
In his early days, porritt was a revolutionary
who demanded that people be allowed to invade the countryside because,
"The present system denies people their natural birthright of access
to the land."[127] He was so radical he opposed the expropriation
of land because .. "it should not be possible to own land."[128] He
called for ... “a massive programme of rural resettlement."[129] Pye-Smith, Charlie & Hall, Chris.
These authors protest about the decline of
village life. They have written a manifesto calling for the mass movement
of people back to the countryside, “Our message is a simple one: let us
create a many jobs as we can in the countryside .. The prospects for some
further creation of jobs in manufacturing industries in rural areas are
reasonable .. The service sector offers better prospects for economic
growth in the countryside. It is already the largest source of employment
in most rural areas ..”[130]; “The Countryside we want’ is a practical programme of reforms
for revitalizing rural britain and halting the many destructive processes
which yearly make it a less attractive place to live in and visit. We
want a diverse countryside in which a multiplicity of activities can take
place.”[131] They oppose town and country planning since the
second world war since it has been based on the premise of segregating
the town from the countryside, “Its commitment was to contain the spread
of urban sprawl across the countryside .. Industrial development was directed
away from the countryside. The planners’ notion that towns had industry
and the countryside did not, became more and more firmly established.”[132]
But segregation has also been reinforced by the rich who moved into rustic
retreats and prevented housing developments in the countryside and, in
addition, opposed increases in local taxes to pay for more rural services. Once people move back into the countryside
they will require a range of infrastructure. It is likely that most of
the money to pay for this infrastructure will have to come from urban
people who are yet again having to fund the antics of rural people. However,
these authors attempt to find some of the resources from rural areas,
“Where will the money come from to pay for better public transport ..
house-building and improvement in other public services like education?
.. there is a strong argument in favour of central government being more
generous in its allocation of subsidy for these purposes. However, if
we search for a new source of revenue we need look no further than the
countryside itself. At present farmland is exempted from rates.”[133]; “The
rating of agricultural land provides us with a tremendous opportunity
to finance and improve public services.”[134] The
authors aren’t demanding an increase in local rates, primarily because
this would hit the poor driving them out of the countryside. However, the authors can’t resist providing farmers
with even more subsidies. They propose a land management payment to help
in the conservation of the countryside. It .. “would provide a new source
of income for landowners who were prepared to sign simple agreement about
conservation with the county/regional councils.”[135] Once again it is transparent that as soon as
oomans move back into the countryside they’ll start slaughtering Animals
they define as pests, “We believe that the presumption in law should be
that all species of mammal and bird be protected, with certain exceptions.
The exceptions should include three ‘pests’ which can cause economic damage
and which are common: the brown rat, the house mouse and the rabbit. However,
farmers and landowners should be able to apply for permission to kill
other species .. There are some animals which, both for their own sake
and that of others, must periodically be culled.”[136] It
is tempting to include oomans in this list especially landowners, farmers
and greens - in no particular order of merit. The authors want people to move back into
the countryside and kill Animals, “On welfare grounds alone, the intensive
rearing of farm animals must be abolished. In the long term, the mixed
farm, where ‘corn and horn’ complement one another, is the most efficient
system, and the least damaging to the ecology of the soil. The mixed farmers
will return all manure to the land, they will rotate their crops, they
will use straw, and they will grow some of the feed required for their
stock.”[137]
We want .. “a countryside in which both human and wildlife will prosper.
Where more people work on the land. Where everyone can wander freely.
Where the animals which end up on our plates are decently kept and decently
killed.”[138]
Many of those who protest about factory pharming aren’t Animal rightists
who want to end the exploitation of Animals but greens who support a caring
form of slaughter. Organic farming is as dependent on Animal exploitation
as intensively reared livestock pharming. The geophysiological ignorance of these authors
can be seen from the fact that they are more interested in conserving
the past than rejuvenating the Earth’s life support system. In order to
prevent chalk grasslands from reverting back to Forests the authors suggest
.. “from a conservation point of view .. we must either burn it regularly,
as happens on many nature reserves, or it must be grazed. We favour the
latter course.”[139] The authors call for the opening up of nature
reserves in brutland so that people can wander over them destroying what
they have come to see ..”conservationists have sometimes been as guilty
of selfishness and elitism as the landowners they attack. We must establish
not just why we conserve nature, but for whom. Some conservationists,
playing on the mystique of science, have invoked ‘scientific’ ideas to
keep others off the land. The n.c.c, particularly in its early years,
had a habit of acquiring nature reserves and promptly denying public access
to them.”[140] The authors protest about biased conservation
arguments which .. “have been used by one section of the community to
thwart another. In general it has been the wealthier middle classes seeking
to protect their own interests, often to the detriment of less articulate
and poorer neighbours. Whatever we do to protect nature, and to ensure
that domestic animals are well treated, must be for the sake of not just
a few, but for all of us.”[141] Once again the authors reveal their anthropogenic
bias. Surely conservation should be carried out for the sake of the Earth
and its Wildlife? Rifkin, Jeremy with Howard, Ted.
"Eventually the proportion of farm to city population
will have to reverse itself if human life is to survive. Labour intensive
organic farming cannot support the concentrated urban population centres
that have built up during the high energy fossil, fuel age. An agricultural
way of life will dominate the coming Solar age as it has in every other
period of history before our own."[142] Roszak, Theodore.
Roszak believes that, "Land reform is
the undiscovered revolution in American politics."[143]
He condemns urban life, "Urban dwellers .. constitute the oldest
imperial interest in the world. The empire of cities, incessantly forcing
itself upon the traditional, the rural, the wilderness at large. Today,
all the decisions that are being made about the future of our planet are
being made in the cities by city brains."[144]; "By the very fact that they are locked
away from the Earth in an artificial environment, urbanites lose sight
of the planet as a living entity with whom they must maintain an organic
reciprocity."[145]
"The modern city represents our most daring attempt to live 'beyond'
nature as its detached observer and master."[146]; Roszak
believes people do not want to live in cities but have been forced to
move there by circumstance. Thus, given the chance they would go back
to the countryside, "There would be little chance of deurbanizing
the modern world if the millions that now flock to the cities wanted to
be there. Deurbanization is not something that need be made to happen;
it need only be allowed to happen, as if by natural gravity."[147]; "The
city has never been a way of life that appealed to more than a strict
minority."[148] Rowell, Andrew.
“Northern environmentalists were primarily concerned
about the fate of the Forest and were slow to realize that people lived
in the amazon who were also an integral part of the eco-system. Around
86% of the protected areas in the region are inhabited. Traditionally
it had been up to groups such as Survival International .. to champion
the cause of the Forest dweller in the northern hemisphere. Thankfully,
some environmentalists have started adopting a more realistic, holistic
approach. Rubber tappers, on the other hand, were initially interested
in land reform and social justice, and only later recognized the importance
of the forest ecology. This said, some of the policies that northern environmentalists
have advocated have been totally ignorant of forest dwellers and have
done more harm than good. There are, for example, still problems where
northern environmentalists have advocated the setting up of northern parks
where the traditional forest dwellers have been excluded and expelled
from their land. .. the policies have also actually increased deforestation
as ranchers and industry have invaded areas previously protected by the
evicted inhabitants.”[149] Sale, Kirkpatrick
"In a bioregional society, the division between
urban and rural, industrial and agricultural, population and resources,
would be replaced by an equilibrium, a symbiosis. The city need not be
of immense size - indeed, no larger than 50,000 or 100,000 people - so
that instead of a single metropolis there would be a multiplicity of cities
of modest sizes scattered throughout the region."[150] Shiva, Vandana
"I think one of the things that is becoming
so clear is that the development pattern that has assumed that agriculture
should be free of people and loaded with machines and chemicals and that
people's only habitation should be the city is at the root of the unsustainability
of the city as well as agriculture."[151] Windsor, Charles.
“Charles called for the development of new towns
with ....”[152] |
|||
WHO'S WHO - Introduction - - Individuals - - Associations & Organizations - - Media - - Issues - - Films |
MUNDI CLUB HOME AND INTRO PAGES - Mundi Home - - Mundi Intro |
JOURNALS - Terra / Terra Firm / Mappa Mundi / Mundimentalist / Doom Doom Doom & Doom / Special Pubs / Carbonomics |
TOPICS - Zionism / Earth / Who's Who / FAQs / Planetary News / Bse Epidemic |
ABOUT THE MUNDI CLUB - Phil & Pol / List of Pubs / Index of Website / Terminology / Contact Us |
All publications are copyrighted mundi
club © You are welcome to quote from these publications as long as you acknowledge the source - and we'd be grateful if you sent us a copy. |
We welcome additional
information, comments, or criticisms. Email: carbonomics@yahoo.co.uk The Mundi Club Website: http://www.geocities.com/carbonomics/ |
To respond to points made on this website visit our blog at http://mundiclub.blogspot.com/ |