Newfie wrote:I suggest that there is a natural impediment to this forward thinkingap and planning in the shortness of our life spans relative to the flow of the problem. Because children grow up in the world they grow up in they experience the degradation of their parents world as "normal." This each generation has a new normal, the time clock is reset. It naturally limits how far we, as a collective, can look into the future.
Bingo. This is my own personal definition of "tragedy of the commons". Deep ecology and thinking in "deep time" is a foreign concept to humanity. It's possible to do it, but it is by no means our standard operating procedure. We operate in the now, fight or flight. The reason why monuments like the Pyramids are wonders of the world is because it's so rare to have any endeavor of humanity that is intended to last any longer than is required for a quick payback. It's something reserved for pharaohs. This is also why I think permaculture has no chance, because it requires that the land have a consistent caretaker over a period of decades at least before it matures. In that short amount of time it's likely that the land will change owners and the new owners won't see the value of what's being attempted and the land will be turned into a subdivision or an open field for annuals. There's just too much turnover in land ownership. I see this even in the suburbs here where maple trees that have been around since I was a kid are casually sent into the chipper and stumped because the owner wants to put in a cul-de-sac driveway. These maple trees were probably planted in post-war. In deep time, these trees are still young but they battle long odds when these houses change hands on average what, once every couple decades at least?
The only kind of land use that works under these circumstances are annuals. Sad but true.