On Sunday, December 1, 2002, at 03:11 PM, Wirt Atmar wrote:

<<snip>>

> Further, my argument has been for 20 years now that if we want to
> preserve
> the last bit of biodiversity on the planet in whatever state of
> pristineness
> it still exists, we need to work to make the world equally prosperous
> and
> educated.

Start by eliminating nations and subsidies. Fat chance.

An "equally prosperous" population might require a world-wide maximum
wage law and a world-wide minimum wage law.  It might also require
something akin to universal employment and womb-to-tomb health
facilities.

We also can't all be "equally educated" (whatever that means) unless we
have equal motivation and equal teaching facilities. Since there would
always be incapable or unmotivated students (and/or teachers) it would
appear that the only way we could be equally educated is if everybody
lives down to the capabilities of the least capable.

> Well-educated populations intrinsically tend to protect their
> environment in a manner that backward ones cannot.

This tendency is generally most noticeable after the well-educated
populations have damaged their own environment so much that they are
forced to obtain materialistic things (such as lumber) from poorer
countries who haven't yet completely destroyed their own environments
without outside assistance.

> Not only is universal wealth the more moral of the two choices, I
> believe that it is the only practical solution.

To become practical would require a huge decrease in world population
together with a severely lowered standard-of-living for the wealthiest
among us.

FW

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