Essentially the entire world was covered by indigenous societies, already living at the maximum sustainable carrying capacity of the land (for how they lived) until the Neolithic Revolution in the middle east from which eventually came cultures that spread around the world forcefully wiping out other cultures by various means (violence, disease, etc.) both intentionally and non-intentionally. Interestingly, very few indigenous cultures have ceased to exist because it's members decided to adopt another way of life on their own free will.
There is a distinction between sustainable and immortal. A sustainable culture is not immortal can still be wiped out by external forces such as natural disasters, and other people. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of indigenous cultures that have wiped themselves out because of non-sustainable ways of life, but there are also thousands who did not (the ones that existed for tens of thousands of years, and have been only recently wiped out). Nevertheless, many indigenous cultures still exist around the world, although they are still disappearing rapidly. The United Nations estimates that there are about 300 million indigenous people living in the world today (about the population of the United States) in their traditional manner. I realize that the term "indigenous" is somewhat vague, and this number probably changes rapidly depending on your definition of the word. Tyler On Aug 20, 2008, at 11:45 AM, Allan Streib wrote: > "Tyler Backman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > >> Does that clarify what I mean by sustainable, what exactly is being >> sustained, and why? > > Not really, because if the primitive "indigenous" lifestyle is > sustainable, then why do so few of these societies still exist? It > seems that they are by their absence NOT sustainable.... > > Allan _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
