Science isn't Everything, page 2

Originally posted by Lorena

2: Astrocreep: Have you gone to Africa and asked them, just out of curiosity? How do you know they want to be industrialized? Maybe you do know that for a fact, I am just making sure that I can take that as truth. Witch doctors- what you have never had you never miss. For them it works. I read somewhere that in some tribes, with no medicine, the cure rate for witch doctors was 99%. I totally forget where I read this, so I may have to check back, but still.... plus, if the Africans had places they could move with better climate conditions, they would much easily grow plants. Problem is, they can't just move from a tribe to an industrialized city. I am sorry, but I think industrilization is overrated. And I still disagree totally on the environment thing.

Lorena, all good questions my dear and I see the point you're coming from because I once held it. I haven't been to Africa but I did spend a summer working with an African who was in the US educating himself on guess what? civil engineering. His goal was to help his village improve by more efficient housing and better planning. Traveling with him all summer, I learned a great deal about his culture and their struggle to pull themselves out of the poverty. The thing he liked best about the US aside from food and water and comfortable places to sleep was our environment. He commented often on how even industrial complexes and commercial buildings took time to enact environmental programs right down to coal burning power companies.

I know the visions you imagine, fresh water falling down a mountain falls, birds chirping, green trees everywhere. A natural paradise. Well, we still have them in the US, more so than 100 years ago. In my state, the abandoned strip mines that used to marr the landscape have been recalimed to vast grasslands and through the fish and wildlife department, Elk have been reintroduced. An animal that hasn't lived here since the 1800s because humans settled the grassland areas and all that was left were forests which cannot provide the sustainable food source for them. As technology has evolved and grown along with science, we have become more aware of the environment and can now afford to invest in it. Before acience carried us out of the dark ages, we mine with wreckless regard and built roads and towns without considering what we were doing to wetlands and carst areas. Now, the EPA is the single biggest voice in any project. My point is the environment isn't a big issue to Africans, finding the next clean drink of water or the next bite to eat is. We can't fault them for that. Until they have a growing economy that competes in the world market and the technology to irrigate, clean their water, and either buy or grow their food, I fear it will remain. I'm certain that the initial industrial venture will yield picture after picture of pollution of factories but once they obtain enough wealth to meet basic needs, their ideas will turn to preserving their environment just as ours has and now that the vast array of techonology to produce products in a cleaner manner have been developed, I'm betting we don't see as dirty industrial beginning as we did in the US.