Brittle Power- PARTS 1-3 (+Notes) - Natural Capitalism Solutions

Notes 393ed a preliminary study closer in scope andmethod to our own. His group’s first findings,which we understand resemble ours in a morespecifically Swedish context, will becomeavailable in Spring 1982. Some relatedinquiries were also begun in late 1981 at theU.S. National Defense University (R. Hayes,personal communication, December 1981).We have been unable, however, to find anywherein the world an analysis comparable inscope and detail to this one.Notes to Chapter Two1 Glassey & Craig 1978:330.2 Los Angeles Times 1981. Somewhat betterprotection may become available if it becomespossible—as some authorities think it alreadyis—to give “suspicion” warnings a few days inadvance of a disaster such as an earthquake.Such a capability, however, also raises thornylegal and political questions.3 Even if foreseen, a major natural disastercan send shock waves through the economy.There is current federal concern, for example,that when the expected Richter eight-plusearthquake strikes Los Angeles or SanFrancisco, parts of the insurance industry maynot survive paying for the damage—predictedat upwards of eighty billion dollars (Smith1980).4 Joint Committee on Defense Production1977:I:17–20.5 Ibid.:17.6 Stephens 1970:13.7 Ibid.:23.8 Chronic bad weather can have curiouslyindirect side effects. The salt spread on NewEngland roads to combat ice, for example,speeds corrosion not only of vehicles (whichin consequence suffer more structural failures)but also of bridges and undergroundpipelines. Salt also gets into the water table,apparently causing epidemic high blood pressurein some Massachusetts towns.9 Joint Committee on Defense Production1977:II:22, which describes why patterns ofweather and farming make it unfeasible toevacuate Soviet cities at most times of the year.10 Congressional Research Service 1977:III:189.11 Quirk & Moriarty 1980:90–91.12 Congressional Research Service 1977:III:189.13 Ackermann 1979; Subcommittee onEnergy & Power 1979:17.14 Congressional Research Service1977:III:191.15 Kellogg & Schware 1981:63.16 Quirk & Moriarty 1980:90–92.17 Ibid.:94.18 Ibid.:97.19 Kirtland 1981.20 Quirk & Moriarty 1981:90–91.21 Lorenz 1976; Study of Man’s Impact onClimate 1971.22 Glassey & Craig 1978:335–336.23 If, as appears likely, the climate is becomingmore severe and erratic, plant breederswill be hard pressed to adjust. Most of today’shybridized crops were specially bred to growbest in conditions which seemed normal at thetime but are now known to be the mildestsince the Ice Age. Furthermore, the geneticbase of major crops has been deliberately narrowed;many adaptable primitive strains havebeen lost (Myers 1981); and government seedbanks are rapidly losing their stock of viablegerm plasm (Crittenden 1981).24 For example, under the extreme conditionsof a post-nuclear-war environment,insects are likelier to survive than higherorganisms that eat them, because insects cantolerate far more radiation (National Academyof Sciences 1975). Plagues of crop pests are aplausible result. Already the milder stress ofpesticides has induced similar “differentialselection,” causing considerable pest outbreaks.Antibiotics can similarly select themost virulent and resistant pathogens to prayon dense monocultures of people.25 Meicher 1980.26 Joint Committee on Defense Production1977:II:37–38.27 See Chapter Nine and Note 29 to thischapter for references to the high degree of concentrationin U.S. and Soviet refining capacity.28 These include hydraulic factories (dams,locks, pumping stations, canals) needed to irrigateor drain four million square miles of otherwisebarren farmland, and factories makingbulldozers and tractors. (Over eighty percentof Soviet tractors are made in nine factories.)