Guerrilla

Yu Huang's discussion today on aquaculture in Southeastern China really made me think about the sacrifices we need to make as a species. When I asked her what the effect of monocultural fish farming had on the local economy in these regions and she replied that it has been positive for the economy, I found a debate raging in my head. A type of farming that is detrimental to the environment and possibly human health has provided economic relief to poor, developing regions of China. The questions is, would farms exercising polycultural practices still provide the same economic relief to these people? If such farming could support the areas as much as do monocultures, we should do our best to convert these farms in polycultures. Otherwise, there is a definite question as to what the course of action should be. It's a difficult choice, one requiring an enormous amount of thought as well as a bundle of sacrifices. Many of these people rely on the farming for support and to take them away would put their wellbeing at stake. On the other hand, monocultures are not sustainable and do an incredible amount of damage to the environment. What's better in the long run? Are there alternatives to fish farming to provide wealth for the local people? What would we be sacrificing if we chose either path?
In other news, today I saw my first guerrilla garden along the Burke-Gilman trail. I don't understand why the entire path isn't lined with these plots. They're small, they provide food (locally), and they aren't intrusive. I think I may start digging.