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[OM] Re: [ot] alternative fuels

Subject: [OM] Re: [ot] alternative fuels
From: Jan Steinman <Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:08:34 -0700
> From: "Barry B. Bean" <bbbean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> ... when corn prices are cheap,
> we get blamed for starving African corn farmers by flooding the  
> market with cheap corn. When corn prices are high, we're starving  
> Mexicans by increasing the cost of tortillas. We can't win.

I'm not blaming you; I'm not blaming other commodity farmers; I'm  
blaming commodification in general.

Outside of a tiny minority of true psychopaths, people as individuals  
are not evil. They want to think they're doing the right thing.

It's in aggregate that we're causing trouble, and globalization and  
commodification of natural resources is the inevitable result of  
aggregate goal-seeking behavior that maximizes growth and profit  
above all else.

I'm not saying YOU put profit above all else. But corporations are  
required to do so by law, by their very charter.

I'm not saying YOU are taking the food out of starving poor infants'  
mouths, but the system is set up such that it happens. The global  
commodity market is a chaotic (in the mathematical sense) system,  
subject to wild changes from small events. You're right, people die  
when corn goes up OR down, and it isn't your fault! So who's fault is  
it, then?

My solution was to drop out and seek something totally different. I  
believe that you, as a good person, do the best you can within the  
situation you're in to avoid having negative impacts from your  
actions. But as you think of me, I think your actions may be  
misguided, and thus I suggested we agree to disagree.

I don't know for sure, but I sorta doubt that very many people on  
this list think everything is fine and good with the world. We each  
do what we can, and I apologize if you perceived that I was somehow  
making you the villain for the evils of the world.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Olympus email list... :-)


:::: Beware the "dopeler effect:" if bad ideas come at you fast  
enough, they seem like better ideas. ::::
:::: Jan Steinman, an (almost) fossil-fuel-free zone! http:// 
www.VeggieVanGogh.com ::::




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