Re: Re: Fertilizer shortage

[Guest guest]

You do have a point even if you are in a bad mood.

In Sudan, the desert was seen to be advancing back in Roman times, 2,000 years ago. Up through 1800, the population was only about 3 million. By 1900 or so, it was up to 6 million. Today the population is over 30 million. If the land could just barely support 6 million, there is no way that it can support 30 million.

It is the same in many other countries. Aid agencies would bring in food and medicine, but did nothing to control population increase. Therefore, they made the problem worse. They had people who had fled drought and bad land, and fed them through several generations so that now there is no way the land can support the numbers. It goes beyond that in that the economy is stagnant or declining, so that the population outstrips jobs, so poverty increases.

Like any other life form, humans expand in number to the food limit. We altered that in places by food aid and so now some places are totally dependant on aid to avoid mass starvation. No though was ever given that something like another American Dust Bowl might happen, or that something might happen to the world food supply.

But there are other problems too. In places, the UN came in and tried to help out by digging wells. The area was already in drought and the wells helped for a while, until they lowered the water table below what even the tree roots could reach, which caused crop failures and the deserts to expand faster.

Anyway, it is a real mess. I'm not sure of the way out of it because we are kind of stuck. However, I do think that dropping ethanol would be a good starting point, as would legislation slowing the sale of agricultural lands to developers so we can keep that land in production.

In a message dated 4/30/2008 10:52:52 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Meanwhile people all over the world keep joyfully cranking out kids like lumber coming out of a mill - especially in impovrished countries. Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.

[Guest guest]

I agree that we waste a lot of food. The grocery store I go to sends most of the food it doesn't sell that is going out of date to the local homeless shelters and food banks. There are some things that they have to throw away, but they try to give away as much as possible.

In other places, waste food is used to feed animals. Dirty Jobs had a show a while back about a pig farm near Los Vegas where the farmer fed his pigs on waste food from the casino buffets. It was truly astounding how much food had been being thrown away. At least it was going to make more food at that farm.

In a message dated 4/30/2008 11:35:22 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Ergo the food crisis is not as bad as it seems, or would not be as bad as it is if people in developed countries would eat less, buy less, and eat whatever is on their plate.AdministratorNeed a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.

[Guest guest]

Its one that I could have written too for all the same reasons.

In a message dated 4/30/2008 12:03:38 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Tom says:It's an editorial I could have written. The issues in my mind...amd the solutions...are clear, but to everyone else they seem to be one big muddle. Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.