Wow, there is some incredible debating going on here. GEDean, that was all very impressive and enlightening.
abnormaltoy, I look forward to your take on this.
TT, I am impressed by your knowledge (albeit classroom taught knowledge, and not yet real world knowledge) and glad you are not one that would whine about injustices in the world with the US being the top of the your hit list but yet sit cozy in your warm safe home watching 300 channels of 
on the TV.
I too am a love it or leave it kinda person, and it seems you are too. I like to see someone actually stand behind these words. You have my respect. More power to you, I hope whatever your endevours are work out as you expected and reality doesn't slap those rosey liberal student glasses off your head in another 5-10 years.
two words terrestrial leeches 
As far as slash and burn agriculture being the most most environmentally friendly forms of farming on the planet, I would beg to differ, but that is an debate for a different thread.
My experience is real world. The fundamental principle of my discipline is fieldwork and application. I don't have cable, I don't watch TV, I use the internet access at the school. I work full time. I go to school full time. I write a column for the schools anthropological newsletter. I work on independant research. I am also 27 years old, and worked for about seven years as an auto technician before I came to college. The blue collar background is what gives me my left leaning. The means of production must be owned by workers in order to have social and financial equity. Now, tell me some more about my rose colored glasses. I live a life of austerity (except for maybe my truck) because those are the morals that I adhere too.
And, milpa farming is one of the most environmentally friendly forms of agriculture on the planet. They deplete certain tracts of land and let the lie fallow for twenty to thirty years. It is only since giant international logging companies have adopted slash and burn methods in the Amazon that the environment has suffered. Indigenous populations have a very deep understanding of using renewable subsitence methods. This has been coroborates scientifically by tons of long term research. In fact. Native American populations probably had the earliest and most sophisticated environmental engineering project in the history of humanity - corn/maize. (Although, I do admit that my knowledge of the Middle East is second hand from books and people who do research there.)
