>Not at all. I was saying that the developed capitalist countries have all
>the ingredients that are needed to switch to a zero-growth model - including
>technology, organization and effective population control - they simply
>chose not to use those ingredients for political reasons.
They don't have the organisation though, they are organised on the capitalist model.
> OTOH, the less
>developed countries do not have those ingredients. Therefore, I suggested
>working to reform capitalism instead of trying to implement third-world
>utopias which seem quite popular among many environmentalists (an extreme
>example is shown in Werner Herzog's documentary _Grizzly Man_
>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427312/).
A peasant
>Furthermore, the "colonization" solution mentioned by your friend is not as
>wacky as it may initially seem if you take into account history. Europe
>faced continuous overpopulation in relation to its resources problem and
>outmigration and colonisation was the only solution of that problem until
>the 20th century -when significant production growth was coupled with
>effective means of population control. For most medieval Europeans,
>outmigration of America or Australia must have sounded as wacky as
>outmigration to Mars to us.
>
>TO be certain, I do not endorse the colonisation of space solution - I think
>it is utopian, especially that now we do have the means of implementing the
>zero growth model - all that is lacking is political will.
You seem to be disputing the basic premise that capitalism requires economic growth to function. You seem to be implying that the capitalist economic system can be reformed in some way that contradicts its essential nature. I'm not sure how you arrived at that conclusion, this appears impossibly utopian.
As for political will to reform capitalism, hasn't that been a failed experiment? History seems to demonstrate that such politically neutered capitalist systems are hopelessly inefficient and the internal contradictions inevitably lead to economic collapse?
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas