What is Digg?88 Comments
- Odo08, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"Experts" have been sounding the alarm for over 50 years that we will not be able to feed ourselves. Time and time again they have been proven wrong. Hunger is and has been a function of transportation, war and corrupt governments, not the inability of farmers to grow enough food.
As as a farmer and rancher, I'd like to see a little more scarcity. Maybe I could make my next loan payment. - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4soylent green, thats all i'm saying.
- Fantt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's funny when people talk about what's going to happen by 2050. Those predictions almost always assume that technology and everything else will remain the same as it is today. That won't happen. Technology is accelerating at an exponential rate. Given sufficiently advanced technology our planet's existing resources can feed and house billions more humans in a very comfortable way. The primary culprits causing poverty in the world today is political and religious in nature. Corrupt politicians who steal and siphon away aid money and prevent positive economic reforms and corrupt religious leaders who keep their followers ignorant and breeding at a level inconsistent with economic realities.
Bucky showed that we have more than sufficient technology to feed the world's people (and house them and bring them safe water and electricity) but we lack the political will. - ksgant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People who are fear mongers every few years start the "population bomb" nonsense. In fact, there was a book called the Population Bomb that came out in the early 70's by Paul Ehrlich.
Ehrlich predicted that, by the end of the 20th century, human want would outstrip available resources; whole areas of human endeavor would screech to a halt due to resource scarcity; England would, in all likelihood, cease to exist; India would collapse due to its inability to feed itself; and "inevitable" mass starvation would sweep the globe (including the US). We were on the brink of disaster in 1968, and the future looked very, very dark. In fact, he asserts, "it is now too late to take action to save many of those people." (the proceeding paragraph was lifted wholesale from an Amazon.com reviewer of the book)
But just the opposite is in fact in place. Obesity on a very large scale is actually hitting the Western world...especially the US. Yes, there are pockets of starvation in the world, but if you did some statistics it is no way NEAR as bad as it was back at the turn of last century....or even the 70's for that matter. - TetrisKid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually we are on the verge of global de-population. China currently has a ratio of almost 3:1 males to females under the age of 30. Italy, Japan, Germany, and many other 1st world countries are no longer reproducing at 2.1 (the optimal level needed for replacement). Drastic population bubble coming.
- VelvetoneFusion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1$5 says it's in the next SimCity....
- AttroPheed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1we can all do our part to help future generations by not having kids and dying young!
- cosmotic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Link to the article, not your blog
- clevershark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Soylent Cola: it varies from person to person.
- dargon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The problem isn't that we're using 80% of earths arable land already, the problem is that a) we use it inefficiently and b) what food we do produce is largely wasted.
- puny_midget, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The article assumes 2200 calories/person...seems a little short to me though. I'm no expert but that number should be somewhere around 3000-4000, depending whether they're active or not.
- loquito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actual website:
http://www.verticalfarm.com/index.htm - infra172, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Myth #1: We're running out of land. The majority of this planet is empty. When you fly across it at 100+ miles per hour you don't get an appreciation for its size.
Myth #2: The world is overpopulated. Wrong. If you discount religious cultures: the United States and the Arab world and China, the population of this planet is DECREASING due to disease and birth control. It was just in the news that Japan's population is declining for the first time. The highest rates of decline are occuring in Africa due to AIDS and in Europe due to birth control. - IKbot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is idiotech.
The vast majority of farm land is not used efficiently. The potential improvement isn't just enough to feed 10 billion people -- it's enough to feed 100 Billion.
In the central valley in California, enough food can be grown to feed the entire world. It's probably less than 0.1% of the arable land in the world.
This article is propagating the stupid idea that people starve because not enough food is grown. Perhaps the governments of starving nations should be blamed more directly for stifling any growth -- for decades. - uziq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just take a few meals away from the fatties, and there'll be plenty of food to go around!
- waylandchin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0szelij,
only about 20-30 percent of that grain is unfit for human consumption. The rest are still good. Pork production makes use of by-products that cannot be used for human consumption yet provide protein in a hog's diet. By-products from the processing of milk, soybeans, canola, corn and wheat, along with those from brewing and distilling, on average make up approximately 20-30% of a hog's diet. - raven_gm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe...
However, I think there will always be some growth.
This would be a good thing to start NOW because a lot of people are starving today. - JTMON, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think its Epcot at Disney World in FLA has been growing vertically hydroponically for years now..they have a nice tour through all the things they grow, excellent setup...and yes all hydroponic you 4:20'ers
- loikll, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0*** At humankind's current rate of growth, it is estimated that by the year 2050, the planet will be host to three billion more people than it is today. ***
Number of silly problems here. First, this is an example of linear thinking at its most clueless. Population growth rates have been steadily declining for a long time -- population will almost surely NOT continue to grow at it's current rate: growth will continue to slow (quite naturally, no need for Draconian mandates on the 3rd world.) Last article I saw re population was about a study published in NATURE by Warren Sanderson, a professor of economics and history at State University of New York at Stonybrook. He estimated pop. wouldn't reach 9 bil til 2070, at which point it tops out and then begins the great shrinkage.
But even disregarding that, adding 3 billion people over 45 years equates to a growth rate of a mere 0.89% annually! Is there any industry on earth that has any trouble growing output by such a tiny increment? That's pretty lame growth by any standard -- not exactly Google-type growth is it? You don't have to have a PhD from a school whose mascot is called "aggie" to figure that agriculture must be subject to advancements in productivity like every other industry on Earth. In truth, we probably won't even need to use that remaining 20% of land at all -- that's just gravy.
Related point: did you see the news in the past couple weeks that 2005 is officially the year that Japan's population has begun to SHRINK? It joins Italy, Germany, Russia, and some others. - blakemara, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0However KevinJ Malthus did state all species have a carrying capacity, however it has been proven that our technology allows us to live over our carrying capacity, as we already are
- KevinJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0HAS ANYONE HERE HEARD OF THOMAS MALTHUS???
HE SAID EVENTUALLY POPULATION WOULD LEVEL. - porplem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Billion people.
- skooma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Malthus? Is that you?
- CHurst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0To HowitZer21 - The DTM has abosolutely nothing to do with what you have mentioned.
- 1b1d1ot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0so instead of getting stored food energy directly, they are going to take energy from the sun with solar panels then convert it back to light to give it plants?
The building takes energy to build, add up the energy it takes to build no to mention transport water and nutrients for the plants. water weight a lot, lifting it up cost a lot.
Is that prime ocean view space that building is standing on? Let me see should i build luxury apts or commodity food?
any way fast tracked kudos all around. - kilps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think people need to look a little more closly at the problem the there are people starving RIGHT NOW - First world politions are too concerned with themselves to worry about the rest of the world - if they wanted to help they should:
> Stop Farm subsidies - allowing 3rd world farmers to make some money in the world markets, bringing money into their countries so they can afford food
> They would donate real aid to Africa and the likes and put real pressure on the corrupt leaders so that they sory out their countries - I might actually support a US lead invasion of Zimbabwe - it help sort out the country - I mean at least Iraq had some petrol - x2dx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Id get me one of them to grow alot of weed.
- SmeRndmGy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0population growth is supposed to level off around 2050. American farms are currently extremely inefficient. they produce more food than anyone can eat and the government pays them for it. they have warehouses full of unused grain and food that they have nothing to do with. many third world countries farm even less efficiently. there will be no problem feeding an increased number of people. the problem is with petroleum. that will run out and we will need a substitute.
- Nullifidian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They won't need to be fed because some plauge will arrive that will thin the herd.
- szelij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Waylandchin, if you'd read up more you'd know that those grain used to feed animals are unfit for human consumption. It's the worst grains in the world, thats why they're fed to animals. So no, we cannot merely "distribute" that grain to those that need food. Would you eat ***** and rotten food?
- bignate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0SirThom: I absolutely thought that was BS until I did the calculation myself. Incredible.
- linkvx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0im a tree hugger, i like
- HMTKSteve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Perhaps if we stopped selling farmland to build subdivisions???
Even then, we have the technology to feed the world, there's just no profit in it... - F20Z3N, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i also believe that a lot of the food is going to waste, talk to anyone that works or has worked at a restaurant tell you how much food goes to waste
- jayf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Even if governments lose their corruption and we find some miracle way to distribute all the supposedly extra food we have when the oil gets too expensive there'll be no way to distribute bananas under $10 a bunch.
The rich will get richer, the poor will begin to stink and die and the birds will eat their corpses, get sick themselves and spread their filthy diseases to the healthy.
We will all live in a Mad-max world where the only good news is there'll be no Mel Gibson. - enterthepizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0come'on guys...again an article from damninteresting.com? just bookmark that site. i know most of the articles there and it's kinda lame seeing them appear on dig over and over again.
- AllenS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I haven't read through all the other comments, but I'm guessing if there's a food shortage, the problem with the increase in population will kinda solve itself, won't it?
- szelij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This article assumes a lot of things. It assumes that a major war will not break out. It also assumes that the "inevitable" flu pandemic will not hit us and wipe out a substantial part of the population. We all know that we don't have virtually any defence against a mutated strain, so when it hits, a lot of people are going to die.
If all that does not come to fruition, you have to look at the parts of the world where the population will grow. It's most likely Africa and the less developed nations as they have a higher birth rate. If you look carefully you'd notice that birth trends are on the low side in many developed places such as the EU and in particular Japan (which is shrinking).
The question is here, will there be any sort of new green revolution to keep up with the population explosion in Africa and the Middle East?
And also, will there be enough water for all of those people to drink...
I can already imagine the scenes of tension and all-out rebellion and war in the holy land 50 years from now. It's supposed to be the holy land but it looks more like rivers of blood to me. - waylandchin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0it takes like 24 pounds of grain to produce only 1 pound of meat, so if we fed that grain to the starving people in the first place, the distribution of food will be much more efficient than it is today.
- blakemara, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I grow my own cupcakes in the backyard
- themonkielives, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0" People don't breed uncontrollably."
posted by HowitZer21
Funny I just saw a show on the Science Channel title "14 Children and pregnant again!". And at the end of the show when after the 15th child was about a year old, they find out the mother is pregnant again!
There have been a few stories with heated comments on digg recently dealing with population growth. Now I'm sure that with improvements in food development and farming that the Earth could sustain the expected 9 Billion or so people expected by 2050-2075 time-frame, but will we really be left with a world worth living in? And what about farther down the line, in the year 2200? 20 Billion people? At some point the population density will collapse in on itself, there is a limit to the number of people that can be supported in a worthwhile manor before everyone's worth is completely marginalized and their all packed into homogenized boxes stacked hundreds high like the hundreds of millions of other people in their crammed cities. - oneSaint, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Now this is a step in the right direction!
Place a few of these babies in a condenced urban environment and you're taking dozens of trucks off the roads!
Clean Air... YES PLEASE! - tidejwe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I read an article that showed how we could fit the ENTIRE population of the world into a State like Utah and still only have a population density of that of New York City, leaving the rest of the world open for food, etc. They were showing how people like this are freaking out about nothing and how it's basically a bunch of BS to believe that we are cutting it close on food. Population has nothing to do with it. There are measures of control that could easily be taken to prevent food issues. The worst of which would be moving everybody into a single state with NYC density and turning everything else into farms. I'm not worried at all. I'm still going to DIGG it because verticle farming is COOL! :)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Don't worry. By 2050, there will be a McDonald's and/or Starbucks every 1/4 mile worldwide. In America, our average life expectancy will drop to about 38.
- Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Here's my "modest proposal".
Population is actually shrinking in the "developed world". It is exploding only in the "developing world". My suggestion is that we mandate women, of childbearing age, in the "developing world" use birth control if they are receiving assistance from programs funded by our foreign aid. The only exemption would be if the woman had a medical condition barring the use of chemical contraception. - kamizu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0lol @ velvetonefusion: "$5 says it's in the next SimCity...."
but seriously, this is indeed 'damn interesting' - compressedaudio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0THEY should build the buildings like termite mounds.
- specter85, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago." - TheHungerSite.com"
Stop sending them food and send them U-HAUL'S so they can move to where the food is!! - acontorer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This project is a nightmare. Growing food is, today, the world's main application of solar energy. Plants are excellent, naturally occurring, solar collectors. These people propose that we should put the plants indoors, and grow them with artificial (electric) lighting.
Big mistake.
Such a project would only make sense in a world that's out of space but has lots of excess energy. The reality is just the opposite. The world has vast amounts of wasteland, and (until perhaps nuclear is made safe someday) quite limited energy supplies. - coachace, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"HAS ANYONE HERE HEARD OF THOMAS MALTHUS???
HAVE YOU HEARD OF DAVID FRIEDMAN -
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