freezer Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Why do those people who are starving next door not grow their own food? Are they too busy fighting amongst themselves/fighting with the people on the other side (not the side with the warehouses)? If so, whose fault is that? Corrupt governments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dell12 Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Why do those people who are starving next door not grow their own food? Are they too busy fighting amongst themselves/fighting with the people on the other side (not the side with the warehouses)? If so, whose fault is that? Maybe they don't have the land, money or knowledge to be able to do so. I certainly don't beyond growing a few herbs and potatoes. Unfortunately food is now seen as a financial commodity, something to be bought and sold to make millions, rather than a universal good that is needed for our fellow human beings to survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iansheff Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Never mind, we are all in it together and the rich capitalists will survive and have the poor queueing for jobs paying peanuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordChaverly Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 He would have done well to predict the incredible changes wrought by technological advances in agriculture including the enormous benefits of remote sensing, understanding of plant biology, breeding, GM etc. These advancements ease hunger, but swell the global population. Only birth control can really save us - it's the Malthusian equivalent of a "get out of jail free" card. But unless we play it as a species and not as nations or individuals, our population will just get bigger in response to increased food production. And the bigger they come, the harder they fall. Malthus failed to predict the technological advances in agriculture about to be made in his own day and also didn't take sufficient account of the opening up of new lands. I agree with you about the absolute necessity of population control - but the truth is that today very few governments will pay even lip service to the issue, let alone do anything about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppins Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Why do those people who are starving next door not grow their own food? Are they too busy fighting amongst themselves/fighting with the people on the other side (not the side with the warehouses)? If so, whose fault is that? Friend of ours, a bee keeper was commissioned to take a crew to Africa to show them how to take care of bees and make honey/money, people have to be taught also how to grow their own food, although it's much easier to scream HELP and get it delivered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaimani Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 So Malthus was right after all - give or take a century or two. Malthus of course ignored the impact of technological change on food production, amongst other things. I suspect that technological change will also lead to significant increases in food production for decades to come. Nevertheless, we certainly need to halt rampant global population growth, for several reasons. However, this is easier said than done. there's evidence to suggest that the growth of the world population doesn't have as much of an effect on food sources as the insistence and reliance on monoculture and other damaging agricultural practices. food just doesn't make as much (after all the oil, chemicals, machinery etc) as tobacco, coffee, flowers etc and so the best land goes to that while more and more bad land is left for food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikonuser Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Never mind, we are all in it together and the rich capitalists will survive and have the poor queueing for jobs paying peanuts. Can't even afford to pay them in peanuts now, they have above doubled in price since last October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinner Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Headline inside today's DM. "Food prices will rise 50% within a few decades." Time to stockpile! I thought they were well on the way now. This just shows how innumerate its journalists are. Everything goes up in price with inflation so, inevitably, the increased prices will eventually reach 150% of the originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyofborg Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 soylent green is the answer it will solve the population problem too............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.