Chapter VI Notes
36
The cause of the city's demise will be, for example, a lack of resources, the insufficiency of food, or the contamination of the environment. However, this all depends much upon the changes surrounding the city, so perhaps one should say that the city will perish from "without." Still, the entity responsible for engendering this cause from without is none other than the city (it is the city which squanders resources, brings ruin upon the farming villages, and contaminates the environment), so I think it is correct to say that the city will perish "automatically."
37
Buddhist monk and poet (1118-1190). (Translator's note)
38
It goes without saying that some disciplines, like technical chemistry, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and nuclear physics are directly linked to the destruction and contamination of the environment, but those leisurely disciplines that seem to do no harm, like the fine arts, archeology, and anthropology, are indirectly responsible for harming the Earth since their practitioners refuse to sweat or dirty their own hands, and continue to pat their fat bellies, which are full of the labors of the few remaining farmers, thus forcing the farmers into labor saving, high-yield, contaminating, plundering farming methods.
39
The characters for "wild" are here read as those for "natural."
The author therefore equates "wild" with "natural."
(Translator's note)
40