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It seems crazy to me that this is happening. Why does the farmer not realise his crop isnt being replaced, or the Frankincense distributors, or governments? I'
by benj111 7y ago
It seems crazy to me that this is happening.
Why does the farmer not realise his crop isnt being replaced, or the Frankincense distributors, or governments? I'm not pointing the finger at any group, but you would have though someone would be on the ball.
It isn't like global warming where there isn't a profit motive and the effect is far removed from the act.
- graeme 7y agoI've no insight beyond the article, but short termism + a long problem horizon could explain it. Farmers with annual crops will notice a problem quickly. But these farmers all have thriving crops. It's just they don't have replacements. It would be interesting to see if a lot of these are newish farmers vs. multigenerational farms that actually had to develop a practice of fostering a new generation. It's also possible that new generations used to be automatic, whereas the stresses have arrived suddenly and are a novel threat. I think the basic problem is that if problems aren't hurting today then humans generally are bad at noticing and dealing with them, if the threat is long term and needs preventative action well in advance.
- bobthepanda 7y agoNone of the countries described in the survey are politically stable, and all of them have experienced population explosions. If you don’t know how to feed your family today are you going to notice things that may only affect you in a decade or a few?