namkwah breland wrote:
>
> It would be interesting to hear Dr. Czech comment on the
> fact that current U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson is a former >
> head of The Nature Conservancy and Chairman of the Board of The Peregrine >
> Fund. What is the philosophical and scientific disconnect between any >
> proponent of perpetual economic growth and nature conservation?
This really is the main hurdle that Brian Czech and others face: that even
those who are avid environmentalists don't understand that economic growth is
incompatible with conservation, given the size of the human population at this
point in history. Furthermore, they don't really want to understand it - so
it's easier to ignore the issue because taking a serious look at it leads to an
uncomfortable realization.
Paulson's entire career has been based on the mainstream economic philosophy.
To ask him to change to a zero-growth point of view would be like asking a
fundamentalist Christian to switch to Buddhism. He's an extreme case, but most
of our society sees growth as a necessary goal, even while most Americans
polled want more nature conservation.
Joe Gathman
