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So what do you do all day Uncle Fred, Robin asked? Well I have my routine I go to coffee in the morning (this morning I am at Benetti’s) then to the library and finally to my local bar (Charlie Hooper’s – that was where I was talking with her – it was dog day, we were have a beer and a dog on the deck, the only place that you could smoke). And of course at the coffee shop and the library I can sign onto the Internet (remember the ThinkPad I had acquired in January). So what do you do on the Internet? (It’s always much easier to respond to where and what than to why – but you are rarely asked that question – is it out of politeness, or a lack of curiosity – the former I hope). Well this blog for one and my email of course and there is the news also, but I mainly do research. Research what do you mean? What kind of research? And I told her about my genealogy project (like Julie’s Julia Project – an obsession that takes on its own life – sort of like drugs but without the side affects).Heated conversations between
Supposedly intelligent people
Or at least educated ones
And education only means that
You qualify to be an employee
In this case a high schoolteacher
Oh, the conspiracies one hears of
The Illuminati are at it again
And all of the banks have gotten together
Someone is claiming that if your IQ was high enough
Say 200 you could see the big picture
And I must have such an IQ because I
Can see that this is stupidity
And that it may of some economic value
There must be some whay to measure it
Shall we institute a national test and
Make sure that No one stupid shall be left behind
I am not so much interested in the family history as the obsession people have with genealogy and the ways they go about it – there are rules or should I say trends – all genealogies lead to royalty for example, for whom else can you find records when you go back ten generations and besides given a choice it is human nature to pick the most favorable (more interesting person or the hypothesis that leads to the most data). It is interesting to trace as many lines of the family tree to their immigration to this country and beyond – of the fifty immigrants for example in my tree none immigrated after 1750. Not that there were none that did, but it is probalbly just a result of the data that does not get ‘historicized’ What I am interested in is the process of history not the truth of it.-
Then there is the ISA project – I asked my self at the rate that we are building roads and homes and shopping centers, at what point in the future will be have completely covered the United States in concrete. At this point I didn’t know the terminology – once you know the terminology, research is much simpler – or at least you can start making some headway. At first I had posed it as a question of how many miles of highway there were and what would be their surface area – this approach was not very fruitful. After fumbling around I discovered the term ‘Impermeable Surface Area” or ISA. There are some regional and local ISA studies but the most interesting one covered the coterminous US states (the lower 48 if you will) and was based on nighttime luminosity of cities – the conclusion was that the current extent of ISA is the size of the state of Ohio – they had projected that it might be as big as the state of Texas. But this does not answer the question “at what rate is it growing” - when will wee have paved the entir counry (will there even be a US then and how much of it will have been flooded by melting ice as a result of global warming - and will there any hard indicators before we reach the tipping point like the industrialists demand). There is much research remaining.In Western societies, its [economic growth’s] social role goes beyond th material improvement of people’s lives, which is what it had been throughout most of history. Its central contribution is now to foster social peace and political cohesion – Robert J Samuelson – The Great Inflation and its Aftermath, 2008 p213
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And this morning I began my investigation of de-growth (décroissance) – the genesis of this project is the question “why is the first reaction to an economic problenm always the demand for higherr economic growth” What do they mean by ‘growth’ (economists don’t agree)? Is growth an essential characteristic of capitalism (no one is sure – but believe it has to something with maintaining stable societies)? If not essential why this obsession with it (economists assume it is essential and it becomes a basic theorem for their economic universe) ? And most important at what point will growth demand more resources than the earth has (its footprint has already exceeded the earth's capacity to sustain it) and mankind undergoes a catastrophic collapse. Growth fanatics assure us that tecnology will solve these questions.
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And then I am also wrapping up my ‘Galoshes’ project – writing up the report so to speak and then I will be posting it on my other blog site (the one with the projects and the art).
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O, but you’ll never guess what he makes-me wear now!… - Galoshes!, said Mrs. Conroy. That’s the latest. Whenever it’s wet underfoot I must put on my galoshes. To-night even he wanted me to put them on, but I didn’t. The next thing he’ll buy me will be a diving suit… - And what are galoshes, Gabriel? – Galoshes, Julia! Exclaimed her sister. Goodness me, don’t you know what galoshes are? You wear them over your boots, Gretta, isn’t it? – Yes, said Mrs. Conroy. Guttapecha things we both have a pair now. Gabriel says everyone wears them on the Continent – O, on the continent, murmured Aunt Julia, nodding her head slowly – James Joyce – The Dubliners
-And long before this Robin of course had lost interest in what I was telling her. She had only asked out of politeness, like someone who asks you “how your are?” – You’re not supposed to give them a litany of the health and what the doctor said and how your medications are affecting your sex life.
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The growth society is dominated and often obsessed by growth economics. It makes growth for growth’s sake the essential aim of life, if not its only aim – Serge Latouche – La Monde Diplomatique – Dec 2003
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Is it not enough to ask how, must we follow that with asking why?
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I have just finished my ISA growth rate project – by the year 2050 we will paved over the additional states of Connecticut, Vermont and Delaware – the growth rate should be about the same as is it is the population growth rate. This is based on the fact that about 2,000 bbls of cement is used per capita and that this rate of usage has stayed roughly constant since 1960. Cement is a primary icomponet comprising an impermable surface are (roadway, building pad or basement, ect). Population is projected to increase from 304 million now to 436 million by 2050 and at the same rate ISA will increase from 44,000 square miles to 61,600 square miles
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There are indicators that afte3r a certain level of development, growth detracts more from well-being than it adds – Giorgos Kallis – Sustainable De-Growth
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Law of Inverse Economics – anything that is good in the short run is probably bad in the long run – we wanted to eat our cake and have it too and as a result we wound up with neither the cake nor a full stomach.
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