*"The earth has enough for everyone's needs,
but not for some people's greed."*

Lexi, its exactly those sorts of feelgood statements which the
pope and others use, to justify the ever increasing human
population. If only some of those evil people would change
their behaviour, eveything will be ok. Sorry, human dna
does not work that way.

Its those sorts of feelgood statements which got us into
the mess that we are heading for. Never mind, let nature
sort it out the hard way, when the whole thing crashes.
Darwin was right yet again. Sad but true.

much of the rich diversity and sustainable systems of food production have been destroyed.
Poirot,
by whom ? Ah, I see. The bad, bad white man. If the western white man is so bad then why do westernised non-whites try their darnest to not only emulate them but outright out-do them.
The white westerner has actually come to realise his mistakes & has done an awful lot since to rectify them. The non-white westerners are still only at the bottom of the rise to these mistakes. No amount of making a point of past mistakes is being heeded by the new greedy.
It's much more convenient to keep up the blame game.

individual,

Western man is very clever. He took his technology to India to help them grow lots of food - something he called "The Green Revolution"....and for a time he did produce huge yields (although much was stockpiled to keep prices higher)....unfortunately clever Western man wasn't as visionary as he presumed because in the process of "selling" Western technology to Indians he has managed to degrade the countryside, poisoning the soil with pesticides and over fertilisation, leaching nutrients and causing massive soil erosion. He contaminated the ground water and depleted the water table. Now Indian agriculture is at an impasse....apparently they're thinking of repeating the experiment in Africa.

This is quite an informative article on the unsustainable nature of the Green Revolution.
http://nwrage.org/content/india-second-green-revolution-whom-whom

http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2009/02/05/time-to-stop-aid-for-africa/

http://greatergood.org/gtgm-SomaliaCrisisRelief-37623.html?gclid=COag6JzDq6oCFQEDHAodi3PzWg

http://www.condoms4life.org/facts/lesserEvil.htm

In many ways, America is the land of plenty. But for 1 in 6 Americans, hunger is a reality. Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of society, certain areas of the country, or certain neighbourhoods, but the reality is much different.
50 million Americans —including 17 million children — are struggling with hunger. We all know and are in contact with people affected by hunger, even though we might not be aware of it.

Step one is to introduce the benefits of contraception. This can be done by rewarding the participants. It would be the first step to stamp out starvation & suffering. The onus of responsibility must be put on those who have the ability to be responsible.
individual,

individual,

I didnt see your post earlier I was too busy leaving.

The thread is now gone into a anti white western - Sorry i wasn't being rude.
cheer

Dear Yabby,

The quote was given in context to the
article which Poirot cited - and in
the context of the article it was
appropriate. Of course you can take it
as a feel-good statement, that's your
opinion. However American-based
multinationals have an impressive record
of interference in the affairs of the host
countries, with activities ranging from
bribery of local officials to attempts to
overthrow foreign governments. The US
Congress in the past demanded extensive
investigations of illicit corporate
activity. Exxon, it was discovered had paid
nearly $60 million to government officials in
fifteen nations, Lockheed had distributed $200
million in bribes and payoffs, in several countries,
and the resulting scandals implicated many world
leaders. In all, more than 500 major American
corporations, most of them multinationals admitted
giving bribes or other questionable payments to
government officials in order to obtain benefits
for themselves.

The multinationals do offer many useful resources to
the less developed countries. They encourage economic growth
by importing the necessary capital and technology, and
they create new industries and markets all over the world.
But their motives are purely selfish - to exploit cheap
labour and resources on an international scale for the
benefit of a handful of stockholders in wealthy countries.
That to you might mean - simply a price that has to be paid
in order to do business - but as Poirot's article pointed
out - it often is to the detriment of the people of the host
country. Hence Gandhi's quote about greed - which in this
context was (in my opinion) appropriate.