Originally Posted by
86az135i
Since we are already off topic...Countries are not artificial constructs. They are man made constructs which is not artificial. And these man made constructs have very real ramifications not just for people but the environment. That's why industry loves moving to lesser developed/less regulated countries. Not only cheap labor to exploit, but resources to obtain without any regard to the environment. Same with waste-streams. This jewel is slowly turning into a pile of crap.
I disagree - in this context, "man-made" is the very definition of artificial. Look what happened in, for example, the Balkans and the Middle East after WWII - people with little more than maps and rulers created countries out of whole cloth - how are these "countries" not artificial? For a few million dollars 150 years ago, Alaska went from being part of Russia to being part of the US. Does the planet really care whether the Romanov Eagle or the Stars and Stripes flies over that chunk of land? Some time in the future, likely in the blink of an eye, geologically-speaking, we'll have rendered this planet uninhabitable to us. The planet will still be here, changed somewhat, but still going, and we, and our borders and flags, will be gone like yesterdays dust off a baseball. However, I do agree that countries have real - and frequently negative - consequences for our shared habitat. By bickering over national priorities, we ignore global priorities. We're arguing about who gets what deckchair while the ship is slowly sinking away beneath us.