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Values and Culture

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Bio-diversity?

Contributor: webfluid

Date: 2003-04-02 06:15:52

I don't see what you message had to do with "bio-diversity". Biodiversity is a term used to describe an assortment of living organisms within a defined geographical space. Try to be a little more succinct next time.
Sure there is a problem of unsustainable consumption because of the current voracious post-colonial capitalist world system of values that ‘America’ is spreading around the world, but guess who’s worse than the US. We are. Canada’s energy consumption is almost 1.5 times higher per capita than that of the US. Perhaps this is because its really frekin’ cold up here and we need to heat our homes, or maybe it’s because we consume more natural resources than anyone on the planet. Who cares about the Kyoto treaty, have you read it? We don’t really have anything to loose if we adopt it (except for Alberta), we have a ridiculously rich natural resources base that our current population will be able to exploit for generations to come. What we should really be worried about are those poor bastards in the developing world who produce good that we consume in their own countries and get paid pennies a day for it. The problem that I think you were really trying to elucidate is the destructive post-colonial capitalist world system that is raping the tropical regions of our planet via multi-national corporations. Now that is unsustainable!

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Bio-diversity?

Contributor: Jibongo

Date: 2003-04-24 16:22:55

Hey, webfluid, please don't be mean; solardog's message included as much about bio-diversity as yours did! And I loved solardog's enthusiasm! Your points were good, too. I, too, favor susinctness (simplicity & accuracy), but not at the expense of clarity. [The contents of the 'post-colonial capitalism' garbage-can doesn't contribute much to the clarity of our fundamental problems.]
I'm here to encourage bio-diversity & idea-diversity, both! They are equally important. Somehow, you & me & all our earthmates, need to learn to seek the nuggets of truth that are hidden in the posts we read (especially those we disagree with) & then add new insights from our own unique aggregate of experience.
This eDialogue will have conrtibuted much to world peace if we show the world that we are not interested in beating each other (up or down) but, instead, learn how to benefit from each unique viewpoint & seek the common ground (that must surely be there somewhere). Our differences need to be used to enrich our solutions. Let's not try to defeat those who differ. Let's see them for what they truly are: an invaluable resource for expanding our own (o so very limited) experiential base.

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