Message-ID: <199604101529.KAA06642@audumla.students.wisc.edu> Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 09:26:42 -0500 From: Eugene Wengert <mailto:wengert@CALSHP.CALS.WISC.EDU> Subject: Award To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Statements about the irony of Mansanto having an award for sustainability indicate that the understanding of sustainability is not broad enough. Sustainability does not mean "organic" farming (or similar), as those actions can be unsustainable in terms of soil erosion, energy use per quantity of food produced, or can result in high insect populations leading to elimination of a crop. We need to consider agriculture and business competitiveness as part of the sustainability that we are dealing with--considering sustainability without including humans is incorrect. And things like organic farming cannot feed the same number of people (350 million in US and Canada) successfully. And each time we use gasoline, aren't we being unsustainable? So, should we revert to horse farming and transportation? Should we not cut a tree so that we have pristine forests while people look for houses? Is it okay to leave the U.S. pristine while using the forests from other, less environmentally sensitive countries to provide the 700 # of paper per person per year and to provide housing? (Do you use both sides of the paper?) What are reasonable guidelines? It is a broad subject.
Eugene M. Wengert Extension Specialist in Wood Processing Department of Forestry University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706 Preferred email: mailto:wengert@calshp.cals.wisc.edu Phone (608)262-3455 Fax: (608)262-9922