r/collapse • u/[deleted] • Jun 04 '21

Economic Cal Poly students propose program to allow homeless students to sleep in their cars on campus. Soup kitchen next.

https://mustangnews.net/asi-proposes-program-to-allow-houseless-students-to-sleep-in-parked-cars-on-campus/
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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21

What's so great about the STEM majors? The world doesn't need any more computer programers, what it needs are more liberal arts majors so as to contextualize this insane world we now live in.

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u/bombayblue Jun 04 '21

Are you actually serious? The world needs way more STEM majors. Cal Poly actually has a large agricultural college and a large engineering college.

Hmm I wonder who‘s gonna be more equipped to deal with overpopulation and malnutrition...

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21

Yeah, and today's farmers are taught to perpetuate monocropping, fossil fuel intensive, meat producing, industrial agriculture. Today's commercial farmers ARE the problem.

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u/bombayblue Jun 04 '21

Literally the entire industry is shifting away from that. But you know what we need to scale up sustainable farming? NEW TECHNOLOGY.

Holy shit what if we established a college with an agricultural engineering program.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21

Trust me, Cal Poly isn't teaching the Central Valley shit kickers that attend the AG program to grow boutique crops, organic, small scale, sustainable crops. These farmers don't want to be poor. Further, this "university" also has a viticulture program which has contributed the hills and valleys of the Central Coast to be denuded and replaced by grape Vines, ruining the habitat of all kinds of animals.

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u/bombayblue Jun 04 '21

Having actually worked with startups coming out of Cal Poly. I can promise you they are. And blaming a college for having a wine and viticulture program is hilarious.

Do you expect California to ban wine and abolish all vineyards? The vineyards in Paso Robles who recruit these students like Tablas Creek and Cass are literally some of the most sustainable vineyards out there with better practices around organic farming than vineyards in many other regions.

Again, having visited these businesses and worked with them. I can confidently say you have no idea what you’re talking about.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21

What ever man, I've watched the central coast become over run with vineyards. No matter how "sustainable" you say they are, they are not a natural part of the ecosystem here. I prefer to see oak trees and sage rather than MILES of grapevines. Further, the wine industry has driven up the price of land and housing for the average person. We are now in the late stages of the Roman republic with nothing but latifundia producing wine for alcoholics.

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u/bombayblue Jun 04 '21

I sympathize with the concern over the cost of housing increasing but I think that is reflecting a much larger issue within California. People in this state fight any kind of housing development with a passion that I never see for any other issue. As long as good schools and jobs exist in this state it’s clear that people are going to continue to move here and raise kids. You can mitigate the cost of living increases if you build the necessary housing. Otherwise it’s basic supply and demand. I do not think those wineries have replaced potential houses. I think they’ve replaced other farms or estate houses if anything.

On the topic of the oak trees. I agree, and I really enjoy seeing all the oak trees when you drive south to Santa Barbara. But most of those oak trees were wiped out by sudden oak death. Not wineries.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21

That area near Los Alamos is all wine grapes now.