![]() | DrumBeat II: October 19, 2006 | The Oil Drum | Electrified Rail: An Overlooked Mitigation Strategy for Peak Oil? | ![]() |
130 comments on DrumBeat: October 20, 2006
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130 comments on DrumBeat: October 20, 2006
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Wouldn't you think the protests might evaporate when it threatens to be permanently dark out, and people get cold and hungry and thirsty?
Protests may last only as long as at least some of the basic needs are still provided for. It's hard to imagine people waving banners on a freezing empty stomach. They'd be much more likely to go scrambling for food and water. And anything that burns to keep them lit and warm.
In that sense the protests can be regarded mainly as a luxury. In a well fed human, reason may be the driver, but in a hungry person, the reptilian prevails.
Though for them climate changes and other kinds of pollution may be tough, "we" will have all that and then some. Though, don't forget, Africa, Asia and South America, where life is most basic, have been our chemical and nuclear waste dumps for decades, and the Peru tribes may find their water starts killing people.
But since you mentioned Ireland as well, I got to thinking what I thought. Bangla Desh and the Niger Delta have seen large protests as well, in various ways. ANd undoubtedly, much more in on the way.
I'm not so sure of your police-work there, Norm. I think the well-fed in our society can show a remarkable amount of social disinterest and a preference towards 'protecting what you've got', while in hard times, I see people (and myself) more inclined to offer and to ask for support. Your example jumped to the extreme of people already desperately starving, of course, but unlike a mass of drowning people who'll be dunking each other to keep air in their lungs, I don't see starving societies operating on that same purely solo death-match.
Bob
"Firness will be the petrochemical capital of the free world!"
Great soundtrack by Mark Knopfler
Bob