-Caveat Lector- http://www.freep.com/news/nw/city15_20010315.htm History shows possible doom for megacities SAN FRANCISCO -- Historians and archaeologists who study the downfall of ancient civilizations are warning that parts of the modern world may be heading the way of history's fallen empires.Researchers say the overcrowded cities, water shortages and electricity brownouts in 21st-Century California, India and Brazil are ominous reminders of the fate of Rome, Babylon and the Mayan empire. Modern cities certainly enjoy more advanced technologies than ancient metropolises. But the problems of crowding, pollution, crime and sanitation that overwhelmed populous societies in the past threaten to do so again. The Mayas, who dominated Central America in the Ninth Century, built elaborate irrigation systems to support their booming population. But they "suffered from problems that are startlingly similar to those today," said Vernon Scarborough, an archaeologist at the University of Cincinnati." Overpopulation was a major factor in making the Maya vulnerable to failure," Scarborough said at a conference on "The Collapse of Complex Societies" in San Francisco last month. "The trigger event of the collapse appears to have been a long drought beginning about 840."Although many factors, such as war and disease, contributed to the calamities of antiquity, speakers at the conference singled out two causes: too many people and too little fresh water. This one-two punch can become lethal, they said, when environmental problems such as a prolonged drought put too much stress on a society. The movement of people into big cities such as Rome and Tikal, the Mayan capital, created great wealth, cultural richness and complex bureaucracies that ultimately proved to be unsustainable. "Complex societies have been collapsing for 12,000 years -- as long as they have existed," said Joseph Tainter, an expert on prehistoric American Indians at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Albuquerque, N.M.In his talk, Tainter pointed to California's electricity crisis and never-ending quest for water as today's version of the pressures that wrecked early societies. The Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia, the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization in India and early societies in Palestine, Greece and Crete all collapsed in a catastrophic drought and cooling of the atmosphere between 2300 and 2200 B.C.Now the world faces an increasingly serious shortage of fresh water. Although water covers three-quarters of our planet, 95 percent of it is saltwater and 70 percent of the rest is locked up in ice.A billion people lack adequate clean water, said Peter Gleick, director of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security in Oakland, Calif. Waterborne diseases kill 10,000 to 20,000 children every day, said Gleick, author of a report "The World's Water, 2000-2001.""Half the world's population has water service inferior to the ancient Greeks and Romans," Gleick said. People all over the globe are abandoning small towns and villages and jamming into metropolitan areas, especially in poorer countries. By 2015, population experts predict, there will be 28 "megacities," each with more than 10 million people. The Tokyo region is already home to more than 26 million people. Bombay, India, is expected to grow from 18.1 million to 26.1 million; Los Angeles from 13.1 million to 14.1 million; New York City from 16.6 million to 17.4 million. Cities in less fortunate parts of the world are especially likely to suffer. "The lessons from history, or prehistory, are usually inconvenient and painful to deal with and easy to ignore," Scarborough said. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
