[Terrapreta] Fw: a tiny outburst of common sense

[lou gold]

Hi Kevin,

It does seem that politics is as you say, "Politics is the Art of having
Benefits diverted to one sector of Society, and Costs diverted to another."
Interestingly, I just blogged that theme at
http://lougold.blogspot.com/2007/12/price-of-corn-ethanol-in-us-price-of.html

A long time ago when I used to teach political science in the university it
was popular to say that politics was about "who gets what, when and how" or
that it was about "whose ox gets gored." Looking at Bali, for example, it
seems like these definitions still have reasonable descriptive power.
Looking at the US Congress, they seem to have extraordinary descriptive
power. There's just no other way to explain a $12 Billion subsidy for corn
ethanol.

And when we consider that the top 20 or so developed economies collectively
subsidize their agricultures at the level of $1 Billion PER DAY we can see
the magnitude of the challenge of changing a complex institutionalized
system. I say all this not to condemn politics per se. Replacing politics
with either the market or a benevolent dictator or the IPCC scientists also
will bring forth distortions from the ideal outcome.

Why is this, why are the distortions so predictable? I have a suspicion that
it's because there is usually a hidden assumption buried in the good
intentions of the problem-solvers and reformers -- namely, that human nature
must and can change. I think you know the drill -- we must become more
compassionate, less competitive, more altruistic, less greedy, less
consuming, less wasteful, etc, etc. And then the inevitable happens... we
turn out to still be human. Thus, I have often wondered if it might be
possible to devise a system that honored our humanness and somehow worked.

One example that has always intrigued me is the
the Potlatch or Giveaway ceremonies practiced among the tribal peoples of
the North American Pacific Northwest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potlatch
Although it is easy to romanticize the Potlatch as an example of altruism,
it really is not. Rather, it is a very complex system for determining and
maintaining the status and prestige of different families within the tribe.
Usually, it is performed under notions of reciprocity but among some tribes
it has also been known to be very competitive, where a family will "insult"
another family by demonstrating its ability to give way or waste more than
the competition.

Just imagine a young type A aggressive male wanting recognition, power and
the attentions of the lovely maiden. He displays his worth, not through
accumulation of stored stuff but through his ability to give it away. Thus,
a very human trait gets channeled into something that is, in consequence, a
collective benefit. It works, I believe, in no small part because it honors
human nature rather than seeking to change it.

And what is the human nature that forms our present global predicament? We
multiply.  We consume. We waste. And the reformers' programs sound like...
Multiply less. Consume less. Waste less. These ARE important goals but we
often find much to our chagrin that for every 'enlightened soul' who
'evolves' there are 10 waiting in line anxious to acquire the bad habits.
Even where reproduction is decreased, the motive is often that fewer
children to provide for means that more stuff can be acquired. Markets
receive the message and are quick to respond. And it is all buttressed by a
politics- and a business-as-usual and a human-as-usual.

I believe there are two ways out, harder and softer.

The harder way is that we continue to deplete the earth's resources and
deposit our wastes into the wrong places up until the point where a stressed
planet strikes back with a crash that imposes fewer numbers, survival
behaviors and a new evolutionary path forged out of much conflict and
suffering.

The softer way is to become more fully human by learning how to cycle our
waste no longer into ecosystem depletion but into renewal and restoration
for both humans and nature. The beautiful possibility is that Terra Preta
may hold the secret that allows for a business-, a politics- and a
human-as-usual way to do this.

Ever hopeful, I send hugs to all.

lou
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