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80 Comments
- Barackalypse, on 06/06/2008, -1/+24How about POPULATION CONTROL? People who can't feed themselves without a government handout ought not be having children.
- dougvfr750, on 06/06/2008, -1/+24It sure would be nice if these countries didn't "depend" on foreign aid, but unfortunately I don't have any answers either
- SteelChicken, on 06/06/2008, -4/+21"where so many already depend on aid to survive," people who depend on aid to survive probably shouldn't, because sooner or later aid gets interrupted. theres a word for this, parasitism.
- novask, on 06/06/2008, -0/+15I don't understand why people are burying you when its true. I remember reading an article about the food shortage in Africa and (in the video) a woman was complaining that she couldn't feed herself and her 18 kids. I live in the US and if I had 18 kids, I sure as hell couldn't feed them over here, much less over there.
I think people believe that when you mention population control you expect families to not have any kids, but in truth they could cut the amount of kids they have in half and still have more kids than the average western family. - paperclipsNsoup, on 06/06/2008, -1/+12Are you daft? Imagine you lived in Ethiopia, and you were dirt poor, and uneducated, and depended on aid to live. Where exactly would you go? Would you walk your ass to another country? Then what, your uneducated, so you can't get a job, many country's won't accept your citizenship, so you can't work in most countries, every where around you there is an over abundance of people willing to work.
There is often (waaay more often then you realize) reasons why you cannot leave (with your life). In Gaza Strip, those starving people who depend on aid, are kept there by military force. That same military force also disrupts aid often. Same goes with parts of Tibet, the Congo etc.
There ARE people who should get off their asses, but don't be so closed minded - PinkFloydFan, on 06/06/2008, -2/+13I think I may have the solution...
SOYLENT GREEN IS MADE OUT OF PEOPLE! THEY'RE MAKING OUR FOOD OUT OF PEOPLE!!! - WebFusion, on 06/06/2008, -0/+10One of the best ways we can help these countries that "depend" on foreign aid to survive is to simply STOP sending them food. I've been in one such country, and the (former) local farmers no longer even bother to plant crops - simply because they can't compete with the free food doled out by the various aid agencies. We've created welfare countries out of these places, and it's time for some tough love.
- StingingNettle, on 06/06/2008, -0/+9I wonder what happens to governments when the people get pissed and can't afford food? Next time remember not to inflate the money supply please.
- inactive, on 06/06/2008, -0/+9Yep and those poor people are going to have child which are also going to require aid. Heres an idea DONT ***** HAVE KIDS IF YOU CANT AFFORD THEM!
- wrathchilde, on 06/06/2008, -0/+8"Breadfruit can be converted to breadfruit flour. We have just started training people how to do it. But the problem is that we have seasons for breadfruit. It doesn't come out all the time,"
Thanks God there is no season for wheat or corn, or we'd be screwed too. - inactive, on 06/06/2008, -0/+8Most foreign aid is just used to corrupt small governments to the will of our corporate crooks.
- elnerdo, on 06/06/2008, -0/+8You're sadly correct. There is no solution. The problem (Actually, MOST of the world's problems are because of this) is the there are simply too many people. The only way this problem will ever be solved is when people DO inevitably starve to death. It sucks. It's the way populations work.
- n3tfury, on 06/06/2008, -0/+8most definitely true. unfortunately most people don't think before having kids, they just "oops" - have kids.
- Skooma714, on 06/06/2008, -0/+7"Build more farms"
-Warcraft 3. - InspectorGadget, on 06/06/2008, -3/+10Stop popping out kids and nobody will starve. World food supplies are adequate but distribution remains problematic. If the population continues to grow, we will not have enough food period. Why on earth would any intelligent being reproduce when they themselves already subsist on less than 1000 calories a day?
- knight2001, on 06/06/2008, -0/+7Agreed one of the best ways to fight hunger is to stop over populating the area and stop squabbling over money. The distribution problems all stem from those that want to help having to deal with the old rich guys who control everything willing to help as long as there is profit in it.
Personally I feel the whole planet has gone overboard with the whole breeding thing. Look at the nutbag religious families in our country having upwards 20 kids each and then encouraging them to do the same!!! It is getting clearer and clearer that as the population everywhere increases there will be less and less jobs, food, energy, fuel, hell even air as we keep expanding the cities and getting rid of all the trees while increasing the number of pollutants in the air, food, and water supplies. If things don't change it won't just be third world countries that are screwed. - Kenzan, on 06/06/2008, -0/+5Generally the people in the most need of food aid, are not where they are by choice.
Generally there are lots of people with guns keeping them from moving to somewhere else.
Generally when you find yourself in this situation, chances are your country and it's future has been already raped by people with the aforementioned guns.
Generally it's sort of hard to get off your "lazy ass" and take your destiny in your hands when you are ***** starving.
Jesus you're retarded. - inactive, on 06/06/2008, -0/+5Yeah I understand that but can those people not ***** have 8 kids, which they cant support?
- Kenzan, on 06/06/2008, -0/+5Your postion only works if:
1. The people who live in that area *chose* to live there.
2. Have the means to move to a better place
3. Have a place to actually go to.
Since the answer to these questions in most of the food aid situations is "no." then it reveals not only the illogic of the position, but also naivety for looking at a vastly complex situation in such simple terms. - xero69, on 06/06/2008, -2/+7"Rebecca Lorennig, from the Marshall Islands Ministry of Research and Development, said crops that were plentiful in other Pacific countries simply would not grow in her country's poor soil."
"Some of us have to drive 97km per day to work, and the fuel is $US7 per gallon ($NZ9.16 for 3.7 litres). It is a major crisis,"
OK...who decided it would be a GOOD IDEA to settle in the Marshall Islands anyways???
As a species we need to stop breeding unchecked and chose to live where we can grow enough food to sustain ourselves. Common sense! - inactive, on 06/06/2008, -2/+6Advice....."Move"....
- jfsimard79, on 06/07/2008, -0/+4I'm currently reading Malthus' essay on Population entitled 'An Essay on the Principle of Population.'
Although I agree that they shouldn't be having children if they can't feed them, or themselves, I feel it to be quite arrogant for us to decide that. Lucky for you and I, we live in countries that enable us to go to the grocery and buy our food easily. I wouldn't say it's 'survival of the fittest' or that we 'adapted better,' but rather we are the part of the evolution process called 'random chance' (we were born here, not there). - Mootabolife, on 06/06/2008, -0/+3...Sally Struthers away from their food supply.
- philodygmn, on 06/07/2008, -0/+3A much worse problem than overpopulation is loss of food security. Population control saves no tax money while reinforcing power to control food prices, a lose-lose proposition. Genetic modification exacerbates these issues while introducing cataclysmic dangers to the entire biosphere.
The problem of food is not one of hunger, but of nutrition, and we have all the answers we need on that score. For example, the combination of rice and moringa (drumstick) leaves has far more nutritional value than GM posterchild golden rice. Moringa grows abundantly in all tropical countries vitamin A deficiency is a problem, which GM golden rice supposedly exists to address. The grain amaranth has 9 times more calcium than wheat, 40 times more calcium, 4 times as much iron as rice and twice as much protein. The ragi millet, grown in India, has 35 times more calcium than rice, twice as much iron, and 5 times more minerals.
Local ecosystems have countless better food sources than any industrial agricultural product can ever hope to be, aren't monoculture and so are less vulnerable and better for the biosphere, and don't generate debt, inequality, and war.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/tncs/2002/biot ...
http://web.mac.com/dynamist/iWeb/dynamist/duh/C015 ... - inactive, on 06/06/2008, -2/+5So when people decide to settle in an area that cannot and will not sustain them, then it's our duty to keep them sustained? Or is it their duty to find an area that is more friendly to the demands they have for sustenance?
As an example, if you decide to set up shop in an area that is nothing but drought ridden desert, do you have the right to bitch about why you can't grow food or find adequate water? - crapmatic, on 06/07/2008, -0/+3From Wikipedia, Marshall Islands: Area: Total 181 km² (213th).
My ***** detector is going off big time. - jfsimard79, on 06/07/2008, -1/+4I will concede that you do have valid points, however I must ask you how they managed to survive before the aid (hunting, collecting berries perhaps?)
The only thing I can see that would prevent them from going back to that is that there is no longer an abundance of animals to hunt + they have lost their skills there used to be passed down from father to son for thousands of years. I guess the skill they learn now is how to hold out their hands. - Ghoztt, on 06/06/2008, -2/+5Here's a solution:
GROW SOME FREAK'N FOOD.
CONVERT ALL YOUR BUILDINGS TO ROOF-TOP GARDENS
I swear, more than half the human race are idiots with solutions right in front of their eyes. - lisaawesome, on 06/06/2008, -0/+3I am surprised some of these impoverished women can even make it through a pregnancy. They can't even feed themselves adequately and when pregnant the body has a lot more demanded of it.
- inactive, on 06/06/2008, -1/+3Grow more food then.
- BushidoReverend, on 06/06/2008, -0/+2Just remember!
Soylent Yellow is better! - TheMachine1, on 06/06/2008, -1/+3People have too many children where there is no reliable pension systems, safety net for disability and temporary unemployment.
- Kenzan, on 06/06/2008, -4/+6Stock up on MRE's, water, and Shotgun shells while you can people.
The Zombies are a comin'. - inactive, on 06/06/2008, -0/+2send them more dogs
- TheMachine1, on 06/06/2008, -0/+2That may be less true today since prices are so high. Thats an incentive to increase production everywhere. But it certainly was a problem in the past when prices were low and governments subsided and dump grain on poor countries.
- mi2ca, on 06/06/2008, -0/+2The human population has reached critical mass.
- Noein, on 06/07/2008, -0/+2Check your sarcasm meter, I think it's broken.
- OpCzar, on 06/07/2008, -0/+2Simple men like to have intercourse without a condom. If your life is so bad that sex is the only thing you can look forward to, then there's not much you can do to stop it. Unless you use some sort of impotency ray like in HL2:Ep 1.
- Barackalypse, on 06/07/2008, -0/+2How ignorant do you think these people are that they can't understand that sex=babies and if they're starving their kids will also be starving? Give them some credit, they're selfish and behaving irrationally, but they aren't sub-human in intellect.
- KingGorilla, on 06/07/2008, -0/+2Sounds like a modest proposal to me!
- secrity, on 06/06/2008, -0/+2How in the hell do people drive 97km per day on the Marshall islands?
- demonicaardvark, on 06/07/2008, -1/+2first of all their existence isn't miserable and they do have a future. heres an idea, instead of letting vast areas of the world turn into wastelands of poverty we use a little bit of our money and help them live a better life as best we can. and the world is capable of giving everyone a good life its just a matter of effort among the rich countries.
- Twaddle852, on 06/07/2008, -0/+1Great idea. Maybe they can stay at your house. Maybe after building a flotilla of transport ships out of the island of garbage floating around the pacific, they can just sail into Los Angeles and get jobs at Best Buy.
There may be some problems with this but I can't think of any. - inactive, on 06/07/2008, -1/+2Look, don't knock it because you've never had it okay....
- jfsimard79, on 06/07/2008, -0/+1Link to T.R. Malthus' essay on Population control / lack thereof.
(free e-book)
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/prppl10.txt - Kenzan, on 06/06/2008, -4/+5Thanks, Adolf.
- GlassAgate, on 06/07/2008, -0/+1"...higher CO2 concentrations mean faster plant growth..."
Citation, please. - craftycorner, on 06/07/2008, -0/+1Vermiculture/vermacomposting actually makes fertile soil out of organic garbage. The resulting material can be used to grow a very abundant garden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_farm - Kenzan, on 06/06/2008, -5/+6Yeah, that's a *great* solution for things.
Just let all the poor people starve to death.
I'm gonna have to go ahead ask you to get off the internet now.
If you could do that, that's be greeaaaaaat. (sip)
Moron. -
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