Theres a general principle that productivity enhancing sustainable design eventually consumes more resources not less. Heres a good example from todays Science section of the NY Times. It forces you to think about the whole system effects when you solve symptoms not problems
Productivity enhancements are profitable because they relieve bottlenecks for the growth system .! People may select them for the image of sustainability, but the bank funds them because of the profit involved. The profit comes from facilitating the rest of the system theyre part of. The multiplying side effects of that are not noticed because no one considers them. Thats also how we became dependent on the technologies that got us in trouble in the first place -------- - Quoting from the article: NY Times 11/17/08 Drip irrigation also generally increases crop yields, which encourages farmers to expand acreage and request the right to take even more water, thus depleting even more of it. The indirect effect is very possibly to undermine policy attempts to reduce water consumption, Dr. Ward said. Article pasted below, link http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/science/18obwater.html?ref=science Phil Henshaw ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 680 Ft. Washington Ave NY NY 10040 tel: 212-795-4844 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> explorations: www.synapse9.com <http://www.synapse9.com/> -- "it's not finding what people say interesting, but finding the interest in what they say" -- Observatory Drip Irrigation May Not Be Efficient, Analysis Finds By Henry Fountain <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/henry_fountain /index.html?inline=nyt-per> Published: November 17, 2008 In an effort to make irrigation more efficient to obtain more crop per drop farmers have adopted alternatives to flooding and other conventional methods. Among these is drip irrigation, shown above, in which water flows only to the roots. Drip systems are costly, but they save much water. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/science/18obwater.html?ref=science#second Paragraph> Skip to next paragraph Or do they? A hydrologic and economic analysis of the Upper Rio Grande basin in the Southwest, published in The <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/proceed ings_of_the_national_academy_of_sciences/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that subsidies and other policies that encourage conservation methods like drip irrigation can actually increase water consumption. The take-home message is that youd better take a pretty careful look at drip irrigation before you spend a bunch of money on subsidizing it, said Frank A. Ward, a resource economist at New Mexico State University and author of the study with Manuel Pulido-Velázquez of the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain. With flood irrigation, much of the water is not used by the plants and seeps back to the source, an aquifer or a river. Drip irrigation draws less water, but almost all of it is taken up by the plants, so very little is returned. Those aquifers are not going to get recharged, Dr. Ward said. Drip irrigation also generally increases crop yields, which encourages farmers to expand acreage and request the right to take even more water, thus depleting even more of it. The indirect effect is very possibly to undermine policy attempts to reduce water consumption, Dr. Ward said. Policymakers, he added, must balance the need for more food and for farmers to make a living with water needs. Its fair to say that subsidies are very good for food security and very good for farmer income, Dr. Ward said. But they may be taking water away from other people. <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html> More Articles in Science » A version of this article appeared in print on November 18, 2008, on page D3 of the New York edition.
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
