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3/20 Externalities

can make the sawmill resp. for cleaning up the river, or can ignore - is an "externality" formerly not calculated
loss of farmer's own topsoil formerly considered an externality
acid rain in Europe & N. Amer
what is an externality depends on where we draw our boundaries

low till - no tillage
plant a crop such as soybean, kill w/ pesticide & let much, then seed new crop in mulch - don't need to plow

Amer. cult. stresses bigger, better, stronger, more & not long-sighted

failure to look at total system, as when went into Sahael & vaccinated livestock leading to overgrazing

agr. distorts productivity of an area so we get more food & other creatures get less, yet don't always know what we are doing

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domestic of cattle
1. must be docile & tolerate us
2. must breed freely & promiscuous so don't fight like elk
3. must suppress migratory instinct (tho Lapps follow their reindeer)

when get animal penned or forced to stay in one area, much greater damage
therefore mig. animal herds can be much larger

herding of local fauna (antelope, hippo) would be better than bringing in cattle because resistant to local disease

can look at an ecosystem as either energy flow or information flow - sunlight "tells" plants & animals to react in certain ways
Rambo:
protecting crop such as scarecrows & flags & noisemakers, etc are all forms of misinformation

better to use our brains & not bludgeon systems into submission