Dear Friends,
But isn't it the case that in precapitalist societies, there is nothing
inherent in the societies which leads to the destruction of nature. On
the contrary, there appear to be many what we might call social
reproductive mechanisms designed to insure some sort of ecological
balance. In capitalism, on the other hand, the drive to accumulate
capital is tied to the drive to turn all into commodities for the
accumulation of capital. This is a system guaranteed to ravage nature,
no? I mean did the Indiands produce the mining towns of Montana, or for
that matter the minng town I was born in, where there were no trees and
everything was covered with dust?
Michael Yates
Ellen Dannin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> A visit to Cahokia (across the river from St. Louis) is fascinating in and
> of itself and also for the evidence it provides that the large number of
> residents there overused the local resources, which then led to its
> decline. There may have been other factors, such as climate, but the
> decline took place sufficiently recently -- i.e. just before contact --
> that climate records should be sufficiently revealing to decide whether
> this was a factor.
>
> Just as it's wrong to assume that an Indian is an Indian with no
> variations, it is also wrong to assume that all there is to the
> Judaeo-Christian tradition can be summed up in one sentence of Genesis.
> Other parts of the bible make it clear that parts of a field had to remain
> unharvested and that every seventh year the land had to be allowed to
> rest. It was forbidden to cut down fruit trees in time of war, for
> example. Not paying workers on a daily basis was a crime against the
> community because it could lead to poverty and anti-social behaviour.
>
> There were lots of rabbinic exegeses on these and other points which
> expanded the protections. There is a whole line of analysis on baalei
> chayot - the pain of living things - and of the demand that humans not
> cause pain to animals or other living things.
>
> How much or how little individuals observed these is open to debate, just
> as it seems likely that not all Indians, even members of a very
> ecologically oriented tribe, likely behaved in a fully reverent way
> towards nature.
>
> Ellen J. Dannin
> California Western School of Law
> 225 Cedar Street
> San Diego, CA 92101
> Phone: 619-525-1449
> Fax: 619-696-9999
