Global Warming News

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   / Global Warming News #1,031  
Actually, a recent documentary was saying high yield rice has dramatically cut back on the number of people starving. They are now living on the edge instead of dying. But the growth rate in population means that they need to find an even higher yielding rice or we will be in trouble again. They are using gene sequencing and genetic engineering in attempts to accomplish this.

Ken

Treading water in other words. It would seem that no matter how much food is produced, the world will need another sack of rice/wheat - or whatever.

I am afraid we aren't solving the problem of world hunger, we are just working on an ever growing problem. The more successful we are, the more successful we must be. That sounds like an infinite progression to me, it is not sustainable.

At some point, if people are to continue to consume anything resembling food as we know it, the global population will have to stabilize. I realize that gives some people the ethical willies, but by how much are we willing to transform human existence to avoid the topic?

Dave.
 
   / Global Warming News #1,032  
The more apt question is not are there more hungry people in the world but is the ratio of fed people to starving people better today or yesterday?

Another question to ask is: If food production has dramatically increased, then why are there still hungry people? It's a rabbit hole. All we are accomplishing is increasing the real number of hungry people perhaps?

Notice I did not use "well fed" since one can argue that our diet of sugar and carb consumption is not well fed. :D

Agreed. :licking: :ashamed:

Hunger in the modern era is mainly a political event. Not a farming problem. People are starving in North Korea due to government policy and actions not because of bad farm practices or bad weather. The Irish famine was a political event spurred by the loss of the potato crop. Ireland EXPORTED food during the famines due British control AND moved people off the land to raise sheep. People were burned out of their VILLAGES in the middle of winter. In today's vocabulary it would be called Ethnic Cleansing. Millions of people in Viet Nam starved to death in the 20's-30's because France was exporting rice to sell overseas. Viet Nam was the largest exporter of rice while its people starved to death by the millions.

Somalia, Ethiopia events are political. Not due to a lack of farming technology.


Africa is just a mess.... Not going there literally or figuratively. :confused2:

Later,
Dan

While there are some cases of artifical shortages caused by pure politics, like N. Korea as you said, many of the conflicts you noted have their roots in disagreement over resources. I agree the level and intensity of disagreement can be amped up by religious, political, tribal or ethnic differences.

We have fights everyday over water and land resources in our own country. We use lawyers and courts, rather than AK47's and machetes, as weapons.

The difference is when we perceive the fight is over something that one side or the other doesn't really need, they just want it. We call that political, greed or whatever. It is still a fight over a resource.

Arable land and water in climate zones which support agriculture are not becoming more plentiful. It's logical to assume that as the population expands, fights over those resources will intensify. They will become literal life or death wars. It doesn't seem like a problem we can 'farm' our way out of.
Dave.
 
   / Global Warming News #1,034  
No one has yet mentioned the effect on population growth that prosperity has. The more prosperous people become, the fewer kids they have, except where custom or religion mandates more. That's why most of Europe, the US and Japan have stable or declining populations. Until those 3rd world countries get their economic and political act together, we'll see starving kids on the tube. But the food exists, it just doesn't get to them.

At some point, if they don't learn to prosper, we could run out of our ability to supply food to the world, but prosperity is the key.

And imagine a world where prosperity is everywhere. OK, there will be a greater demand on some resources, and we'll have to learn to recycle more, but we'll have a lot more smart people, businesses and labs to help solve our problems. BTW, those solutions = technology.
 
   / Global Warming News #1,036  
Whew, you sure read alot of your own biases about other people into a post :)

I haven't even tried to look for starving/poor nutrition stats, it's a gut feeling. As I stated - it would be interesting to know. Whatever the success of the Green Revolution, it has certainly not been a cure all for world hunger is the point - no matter how you count it - by percentages or actual numbers. At the same time, it has promoted agricultural practices that are risky and are now being implicated in the study of common aliments. Hard to see that as a great technological success eventhough it had it's roots in the minds of very well meaning researchers.

I don't have a 'position' on China's one-child policy. I noted it because it altered the projected population growth of China vis-a-vis the Population Bomb prediction Pilot spoke of in his post.

As to how well other populations are supported; I didn't mention anything about from how, where or by whom they are supported. So, I don't know what you mean by that tangent or your inane comment on eugenics. Assume the simplest case: how well their nutritional needs are met; food on the table, regardless of source. You are aware that eugenics and limiting the growth of population are not the same thing?

If you read Michael Pollan's 'In Defense Of Food'; you may come to the conclusion that a significant number of Americans are also suffering from a lack of proper nutrients.

Dave.

My reference to the Eugenists,(I.E. Population control of CERTAIN groups) was that they and the modern Green Movement, along with most other command control systems of government
have at there root an elitist mentality, that presumes that only they have the answer to the problems facing society, even(especially) if that society lays somewhere on the other side of the globe.
I don't recall anyone on the our side of the issue of AGW calling for the arrest and imprisonment of those who DID believe in "Global warming"now that it has been widely debunked,unlike some on the left had done.
And while you may consider it "inane" to question whether one should have only one bowl of rice, or in the alternative, no life, I am a beleiver in letting the one holding the rice bowl decide. Not Big Brother.
 
   / Global Warming News #1,037  
No one has yet mentioned the effect on population growth that prosperity has. The more prosperous people become, the fewer kids they have, except where custom or religion mandates more. That's why most of Europe, the US and Japan have stable or declining populations. Until those 3rd world countries get their economic and political act together, we'll see starving kids on the tube. But the food exists, it just doesn't get to them.

At some point, if they don't learn to prosper, we could run out of our ability to supply food to the world, but prosperity is the key.

And imagine a world where prosperity is everywhere. OK, there will be a greater demand on some resources, and we'll have to learn to recycle more, but we'll have a lot more smart people, businesses and labs to help solve our problems. BTW, those solutions = technology.

'Imagine'; John Lennon, 1971 A great song.

No, the food doesn't get to the most needy in many cases. It is stolen and resold or whatever. Somebody, somewhere eats it - right? I'm not sure that because the food doesn't reach it's intended recipient we can assume there is plenty of food.

I don't consider myself a Luddite by any means, but technology has lost some of its glitter for me over the years. It can be a double-edged sword in some cases. In others, there were more sensible solutions to the original problems than to invent a gee whiz butt saver. Solutions that cost less and are sustainable. Better yet, put more societal emphasis on avoiding problems rather than letting problems occur that now need a technology solution.

The interactions of technology and society are most troubling. Much has been written about the automobile and the transformation of society for example. It's not all good by any means. Now, advanced personal communication is taking on the same flavor of change.

I have this creeping sense that we chase endless rainbows for greener grass, only to find out we are pursuing hollow dreams. That somehow we are missing the main point, but are happily and ferverishly substituting technology for whatever that is. Either I am showing my age or I need to take up Buddhism. :)

Does anyone have an example of a constructive technology that the human race has declined to employ once discovered and perfected?
Dave.
 
   / Global Warming News #1,038  
Quote by FallbrockFarmer
"I don't recall anyone on the our side of the issue of AGW calling for the arrest and imprisonment of those who DID believe in "Global warming"now that it has been widely debunked,unlike some on the left had done."

I believe that a majority of scientists who examine this issue strongly disagree with your statement. Some conclusions of a few were overstated for various reasons but those errors haven't made the issue go away.

Loren
 
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