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Mon 31 Oct, 2011 06:41 am
So, how do we feed everyone? When i was a boy, the population of the planet reached two billion; the population of the United States was then 190,000,000. Dire predictions said that at a population of three billion, agriculture would collapse. At four billion, it was predicted, society would collapse and nations would go to war to feed their populations. All of this seems to have been forgotten, though, and we reached six billion a dozen years ago. Now, sometime today, the population will reach seven billion. Whaddayathink, goys and birls?
@Setanta,
Quote: So, how do we feed everyone? When i was a boy, the population of the planet reached two billion; the population of the United States was then 190,000,000. Dire predictions said that at a population of three billion, agriculture would collapse. At four billion, it was predicted, society would collapse and nations would go to war to feed their populations. All of this seems to have been forgotten, though, and we reached six billion a dozen years ago. Now, sometime today, the population will reach seven billion. Whaddayathink, goys and birls?
Take 'em to McDonalds where billions have been served.
Seriously, the food product resources do currently exist on planet Spheromogh, we need to stop wasting, growing crops and then destroying them. If it wasn't for greed, many a grain elevator would be emptied out and its contents shipped to a famine stricken locale.
In a more interesting presentation, it should could might maybe be noted that 7 billion people could fit inside the state of Texas (although the cows and oil derricks would need to be moved somewheres) so at least the land for all the people isn't the issue...yet.
don't blame me, i don't have any kids
@djjd62,
After the short commercial, there's a great description of who's most typical:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B2xOvKFFz4
Cool vid, Boss, thanks . . . although i was not surprised to learn that the typical person is Han Chinese . . . i was surprised to learn that the typical person is male . . .
@Setanta,
I guess I'll be the first person to offer the answer of
soylant green. It would be a temporary fix as I'd offer that we use the top 1% of the wealthiest persons in our country for our food source.
This food supply will be temporary as when this project is initiated, many bank executives will STOP giving themselves $100 million bonuses in order not to qualify in the 1% percentile. WIN/WIN!
Another cool vid, thanks Engineer.
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Tsar, your soylent green from the 1%-ers reminds me of the old Bolshevik poverb--A capitalist is a man who will sell you the rope you sill use to hang him.
@Setanta,
There are still areas of my back yard which are untamed. Squirrels and chipmunks run rampant and there are no people to be seen within hundreds of yards. So there is still room available out there for more people.
@rosborne979,
And a little hunting to feed them, too . . .
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
And a little hunting to feed them, too . . .
People around here can't even find their way out of a corn maze, so I would hate to put a gun in their hand and tell them shoot at scurrying animals. I can picture every dog, cat and person within miles ducking for cover, lest they be mistaken for a squirrel ("something moved, so I shot at it, but I'm not sure what it was").
@rosborne979,
Surely you understand, it's not standing room we are gonna run short on?
Where are we going to put the trash?
Don't be a wet blaket, EB . . . just put it over there, behind the garage. So long as the wind is right, no one will ever know it's there.
@Setanta,
Geee, it seems to me that we only just hit 6 billion a trice ago.
David
Im thinking that we shall soon see whether the dire predictions by guys like Richard LEakey and others will come to pass. Ecologists use a term called carrying capacity where an ecological niche has so much flexibility to carry (feed ) a certain number of mixed species. Since we have the ability to change our niches we can extend this carrying capacity. However, its not an infinite flexibility
The UN (or somebody at the UN) seems to think that we'll level out at ten billion. Check out the two videos which have been posted above, they're very informative.
@Setanta,
10 billion was the number Leakey had projected . He also said that at 9 billion, the carrying capacity issue will reach serious proportions, especially in Africa and SE Asia.
Food science can produce logarithmic increases (sorry Malthus) because genetic WENgineering can, for example, triple the grainweights of oats and rice from the same plant. So, triple the amt of grain from the same acreage is possible. Also, it appears that meat will be more of a "flavoring" rather than a core of a meal for much f the world. CAttle do consume a lot of biomass, but they use marginal pasture and scrub areas better than anything.
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:CAttle do consume a lot of biomass, but they use marginal pasture and scrub areas better than anything.
That's the sort of thing that vegans don't seem to want to discuss. I also hear a deafening silence from them on the rape of the world's oceans, especially by the Japanese.
I wonder if people even remember the rice crisis of a few years ago. A lot of the problem with feeding everyone comes from the capitalist system and the creaky, antiquated distibution systems for food. There wasn't actually insufficient rice available, there just wasn't any way to get it to all those in need in a timely fashion.
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