Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Clearly people adapt.

"Adapt." That's an odd word for the collapse of civilization
TB — (archived)

I found the article profoundly depressing. It's nice to see all those happy grins in the photos, putting the best face on things.

The euphemisms alone are worth the price of admission. "Animal traction." "Urban permaculture." "Bio-fertilizers." "Healthy outdoor lifestyle." "Encouraged migration back to the farms."

I've never seen medieval peasant life painted more lovingly.

Solar power systems that can power a radio and a lamp. Motorized transportation that survives on the leftovers of nations that can still manufacture things. Hey, maybe gerbils are really tasty.

It'll be a cold day in hell when you see any of the Cuban leadership and the elite trotting through a field behind an ox, or having to ride a motorized rickshaw.

You better believe the Americans promoting this kind of thing don't see themselves shoveling "bio-fertilizers" either. They go down, make the movie of the happy Cubans singing in the muddy fields, then head back as quick as they can to where you can plug more than a radio and a lamp into the wall. Peasants are not something to aspire to, you see. They're something to watch lovingly from the windows of the palace.

Community Service Incorporated, the source of the article, is a rehash of the old Schumacher "Small is Beautiful" idea from the 70s. They don't even like renewable energy sources if they're too big.

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