Re: Foster responds

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

> As for why the Mayan civilisation collapsed, both in Peruvian antiquity and
> the Classic period (9th C AD), I can tell you right now: it collapsed
> because of a series of intense El Nino events which altered the climate,
> caused rainfall and flooding and washed its agriculture away. There is now
> conclusive evdience from the climatic record about this. No doubt there was
> a Malthusian crisis involved because of over-exploitation of farming,
> population pressure etc, but it's basically the climate.

No doubt under pre-capitalist modes of production climate changes
must have had large impacts upon the course of human affairs, so much
so that some changes put some civilizations to an end: a story that
can be easily integrated into the historical narrative of the
demographic transition from the "Malthusian stalemate" -- the
transition caused by the rise of capitalism.

Under capitalism, in contrast, climate changes not so much cause a
general crisis (as did under pre-capitalist modes of production) as
exacerbate uneven & combined development.

Yoshie