Ready for Rationing? Why We Should Put the Brakes on Consumption If We Want to Survive

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Its not clear whether Stan Cox is a plant breeder with a penchant for politics, or a political provocateur who finds time to do science. Whichever aspect of his personality is dominant, Cox artfully draws on both skill sets to make the case for rationing, perhaps the most important concept that is not being widely discussed these days. The power of his new book, Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present, and Future of Rationing [4], comes from his blending of scientific analyses of dire resource trends with a compelling moral argument about the need to reshape politics and economics.

In his day job at the Land Institute [5] in Salina, Kansas, the countrys premier sustainable agriculture research facility, Cox works to develop [6] perennial sorghum. A member of the editorial board of the magazine Green Social Thought [7] (formerly Synthesis/Regeneration), Cox also has been thinking long and hard about the multiple ecological crises we face. In 2010 he published Losing Our Cool [8], a sharp-edged examination of the impacts of our societys obsession with air-conditioning.

In this new book on rationing, he argues that we have to become a society that puts the brakes on consumptionin an egalitarian fashionif we want to survive. A society dependent on reckless growth that enriches a small minority of people cannot expect to endure and flourish for the long haul. Cox believes that the right kind of rationing can produce a happier and healthier life for everyone.

Robert Jensen: In your book, you mention that some have compared raising the possibility of rationing to shouting an obscenity in church. Why is that idea so unacceptable today?

Stan Cox: People have shown a willingness to accept rationing in a broad variety of situations in which society-wide scarcity is obviouswartime, say, or when governments have a fixed supply of subsidized food to sell, or in a drought when there's only so much water to go around. But if rationing is proposed as a way to preserve resources and ecological life-support systems for the futurefor dealing with environmental problems or providing equitable healthcare, for examplethen we are talking about limiting consumption when there is no apparent scarcity. In that situation, we all like to believe that we exercise freedom in the marketplace, and to many it seems outrageous to limit that freedom.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/print/environment/ready-rationing-why-we-should-put-brakes-consumption-if-we-want-survive

[lostinblue 1,989]

Send the millions of illegals back ....then we can talk about your made up problems. Only so much water to go around there you go ....ship them back home would be a good start.

[GandD 5,966]

Send the millions of illegals back ....then we can talk about your made up problems. Only so much water to go around there you go ....ship them back home would be a good start.

Like it would be so easy. Pardon me, if you're illegal, can you go home? Of course forcing them to go home would require a large role out of USCIS officers to canvas the entire country with no doubt fare below 100% catch rate Plus it would cost a lot more than the right would be willing to pay and then businesses would have to pay minimum wage to their workers so don't expect any support from them.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Like it would be so easy. Pardon me, if you're illegal, can you go home? Of course forcing them to go home would require a large role out of USCIS officers to canvas the entire country with no doubt fare below 100% catch rate Plus it would cost a lot more than the right would be willing to pay and then businesses would have to pay minimum wage to their workers so don't expect any support from them.

How about we just prosecute businesses that employ them, don't give any public services or benefits except in a life threatening situation. How about not having our local schools full of illegal children who's parent pay no taxes? . No jobs.. they will go home

[lostinblue 1,989]

The question is how do we preserve our water, food, energy ect....Send them home what ever the cost...We need to protect the enviroment. From what I am reading 1/3 of the population of mexico alone desires to live in the United states.You had a massive wave of population enter the US during the last 10 years ...what about the next 20 years. There goes all the water in the southwest... You need to limit the population growth correct. that what this article is about..... look at thje job situation. Put the people to work off unemployment and welfare. What is the prolonged cost of that to our society.

California Unemployment History Date National
Unemployment Rate California
Unemployment Rate California
Unemployed March 2013 7.6% 9.4% 1,748,519

http://www.deptofnumbers.com/unemployment/california/

California 2.55 million.illegal

So in california you have 1,748,000 unemployed and 2.,500,000 illegal's alone. Put the unemployed and welfare population to work

In hosting America's largest population of illegal immigrants, California bears a huge cost to provide basic human services for this fast growing, low-income segment of its population. A new study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) examines the costs of education, health care and incarceration of illegal aliens, and concludes that the costs to Californians is $10.5 billion per year.

For 10 billion per year you can round up an awfull lot of this population

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/immigrationnaturalizatio/a/caillegals.htm

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

meh. Most Americans could do with less.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

meh. Most Americans could do with less.

Lot of truth in that. Since I am not work I have turned up the exercise. It's amazing what just eating healthier and working out will do to blood sugar levels.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Sorry about your layoff, dude. Sucks. Freakin' Obama.

[GandD 5,966]

[mota bhai 2,675]

Wow, Obama really is an ahole.

[GandD 5,966]

Wow, Obama really is an ahole.

To make things worse, it was the expensive bread. No bunny bread for me.

[Pooky 3,781]

How about we just prosecute businesses that employ them, don't give any public services or benefits except in a life threatening situation. How about not having our local schools full of illegal children who's parent pay no taxes? . No jobs.. they will go home

A side effect of this approach would be that agri-business would have to start increasing the salaries of the workforce in order to attract and keep reliable labour. In turn, this would affect the price of agri-produce and so contribute to a natural form of rationing.

Of course, the Democrats and Republicans will never allow this to happen, so we're just going to keep depleting our natural resources. When the dust bowl returns, and becomes a desert this time around, rather than being salvaged as it was in the 1930's, the US will have bigger problems than a few million illegal immigrants.

[Pooky 3,781]

Just imagine what would happen without corn subsidies. Beef would jump in price. Americans would consume more grain and less beef. (Not to mention - goodbye corn fructose)

Not only that. How about no more growing crops for ethanol?

[Darnell 8,478]

Like it would be so easy. Pardon me, if you're illegal, can you go home? Of course forcing them to go home would require a large role out of USCIS officers to canvas the entire country with no doubt fare below 100% catch rate Plus it would cost a lot more than the right would be willing to pay and then businesses would have to pay minimum wage to their workers so don't expect any support from them.

Easy? No. Useful? Absolutely !

Let's see - my current spin on the immigration south...

Round em all up - give em army boot camp training, learn how to shoot weapons,

then air drop or train-themi-in to the places they 'left' from, with a huge cache of weapons and ammo, then they take over.

Within 3 years, we'd have a lot of new exports headed south to them, as well, as they will be missing out on the consumption of american food products. Sure, China is gonna wake up about it as well, as suddenly they have new markets for the tools they learned how to use in the USA.

It's a win win, you betcha !!!

Edited May 2, 2013 by Darnell

[MyLittlePony 340]

Close all the holes up across the borader and add new potrol increase secutity oh wait cant Obummer spent the funds on Egypt.