For folks interested in such matters, I recommend
Jared Diamond's 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0670033375/
One of his examples is the de-forestation of the Easter Islands. He now
talks about a question posed by one of his students after publication of
the book:
"What do you supposed was going on in the Islander's mind at the time
while he was cutting down the last tree on the Island?"
(Diamond's speculated answers echo rationales we hear today from
Washington.)
On Mon, 4 Apr 2005, Marie Judson wrote:
> It is true; the butterflies' travel seems free and
> unfettered, yet nothing in nature is free when seen
> and treated as standing reserve for humankind - even
> as such, the logic of preservation is not there. And
> this is so in social and human terms as well.
>
> marie
>
>
> --- Mary Bryson <mary.bryson@ubc.ca> wrote:
>
>> Well, those butterflies and some notion of an
>> elsewhere or other that is
>> unfettered... Would that it were so. I am especially
>> fond of the Monarchs --
>> an endangered species precisely as they travel
>> across space. Actually, the
>> butterflies - we could think of them as actants in
>> some species of ANT -
>> part of the system and with no autonomous agency --
>> feed along the way on
>> milkweed, treated with pesticides as a "noxious
>> weed", as well as
>> genetically-modified corn that produces a protein
>> toxic to the larvae of
>> monarchs, and their habitat in their wintering
>> grounds in Mexico is being
>> lost to devastating logging, resulting in a huge
>> drop in the population of
>> Monarchs.
>>
>> And so here we have a kind of cautionary tale about
>> the impacts of
>> "development" <science, construction, the economy>
>> on forms of life and
>> living. The kinds of loss produced by "development"
>> produces an interesting
>> line of inquiry.
>>
>> Mary
>>
>> On 4/3/05 7:48 PM, "Marie Judson" <mjudson@ucsd.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> It does relate to the topic, Kris, in the sense
>> that
>>> the butterflies come across the border freely,
>> unlike
>>> the humans.
>>>
>>> Marie
>>>
>>> --- Kris Gutierrez <gutierrez@gseis.ucla.edu>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> THIS IS OFF TOPIC BUT IT CAN'T GO
>>>> UNNOTICED--SOMETHING CLOSE TO HOME
>>>> FOR THOSE OF US IN THE SOUTHWEST and hopefully
>>>> something else to
>>>> ponder: KRIS
>>>>
>>>> Soldados Mexicanos Muertos en Irak" (Xenophobes
>> of
>>>> the Minutemen
>>>> Project want to play soldiers on the
>>>> Arizona-Mexico border, hunting
>>>> down "illegal aliens." Meanwhile, Mexicans are
>>>> dying in Iraq for the
>>>> US government) -- FULL TEXT:
>>>>
>>>
>>
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/04/soldados-mexicanos-muertos-en-
>>>>
>>>> irak.html>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Kris D. Gutierrez
>>>> Professor
>>>> GSE&IS
>>>> Moore Hall 1026
>>>> UCLA
>>>> Los Angeles, CA 9009501521
>>>> 310-825-7467
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>> Marie Judson
>>> Ph.D. Candidate
>>> Department of Communication
>>> UCSD, Mailcode 0503
>>> 858.643.9090
>>> mjudson@ucsd.edu
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Marie Judson
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Department of Communication
> UCSD, Mailcode 0503
> 858.643.9090
> mjudson@ucsd.edu
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
Tony Whitson
UD School of Education
NEWARK DE 19716
twhitson@udel.edu
_______________________________
"those who fail to reread
are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
-- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
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