Overpopulation. Climate change. Resource depletion. Such is the nature of the arguments as to why we can't feed the population of the planet. I have one word to say in response. Bullsh!t!!! Solutions are out there!!! We have just been dumbed down to the point we are no longer asking the right questions on how we can change the situation!!! There are things people are doing all over the planet--things that could be replicated on a global scale--that would go a long ways to fighting starvation!!!
There is a farmer in California's Sonoma valley who produced $100,000/acre last year during their record-breaking drought!!! He didn't use GMO's, pesticides, or herbicides. He didn't have to weed. He used 10 times less water than the average farm. How did he do this? He did it by innovating. He did it by breaking the rules. (You can read the details here.)
Paul Kaiser farms just under 8 acres. Interestingly, he doesn't plow his fields. He doesn't have to. He uses compost so well that university agriculture specialists have tested his fields and found four feet worth of amazingly rich topsoil, produced through the extensive use of composting. Imagine all the nutrition that comes from eating the veggies he produces!!! For me, this is the way farming should be. Small scale. Local. Sustainable.
The way most food is produced here in the United States is through huge, unhealthy disease ridden and literally poisonous practices. GMO's. Overspraying of pesticides and herbicides. Soil that has been depleted of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Food produced in such ways comes out with very little nutritional value and toxins that need to be processed away (which pretty much kills any nutritional value the food might have had to begin with). Obesity is a common problem here as people's bodies crave more nutrients than the food contains.
But I am basing my theory on just one anecdotal story, you say? This is just one example of land in California's breadbasket? This is not something that can be replicated in the rest of the world, right?!!! True. This probably would not work in the desert. Colder climates could also be factors in growing enough food to feed the planet.
There are solutions out there!!! It's really more a matter of asking the right questions and looking/listening for the results!!! There is a project going on in the middle of Milwaukee, Wisconsin where over a million pounds of food is produced year round on three acres of land. If you know anything about Milwaukee, it is a cold climate during the winter that sees a great deal of snow. How do they do it? They use an aquaponics system within greenhouses heated only by the sun in the warmer months and compost production in the winter months (the composting process builds heat). To make it even better, they produce organic food that includes protein sources in the form of fish!!!
Food production even in places like India can be increased tremendously using different farming techniques than what "science" claims is best!!! Certain farmers there have been experimenting with a technique known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). It focuses on improving the management of soil, water and nutrients instead of on the seeds. (You can read more on this here.)
The point with all of this is, there are farmers out there who are asking questions and trying new techniques with amazing results. Why is this not the norm? Seems to me that farmers need to be asking their own questions and not looking to the status quo for answers. Not only would they produce higher quality food, but they would produce more of it (and make more money)!!!
Solutions are out there! There is no reason we need to just accept the idea the world cannot possibly sustain the population! Dare to be different!!!
Why are people starving? Because we just stupidly accept what they powers that be tell us about the condition of the planet instead of asking our own questions and trying new things!!! It is through our own apathy and laziness that we destroy ourselves!!! It is only when we are willing to accept responsibility for what exists that we are able to change the world.
Take responsibility! Ask questions! Change the world!!!
~CSE
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