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Half the habitable land is farm land and farm land is ecologically dead (with pesticide use having damaging effects on the surroundings) and not available for carbon sequestration for instance.

Also "livestock accounts for 77% of global farming land. While livestock takes up most of the world’s agricultural land it only produces 18% of the world’s calories and 37% of total protein"

And the trend is growth..

https://ourworldindata.org/land-use




Is it impossible to use technology to make use of small plots of land to function as regenerative organic farms to sustainablely feed people?


Won't improving ag tech improve the efficiency of farming land? And allow better ecological management?



Even 100% efficient agriculture is meaningless in the face of overburdening absolute demand.

Raising efficiency and means of exploitation may also induce demand ("oh we're so eco-friendly").

The point is: Life needs (contiguous) undisturbed wilderness.

And ecological management? That this would even be necessary is testament to our fuckup, but yeah that might actually be topic's biggest benefit I suppose.

Pre-industrialisation life managed itself just fine for millenia.


> Pre-industrialisation life managed itself just fine for millenia.

What do you mean by that, specifically? Clearly we benefit enormously from what has happened since, including food, shelter, peace, freedom, knowledge, etc. etc. I just got something called a vaccine, which protects me from a deadly disease. Someone stuck a needle in my arm, but they had figured out how to do that perfectly safely. The vaccine was driven to the provider, kept cold in refrigeration, and I also drove the provider after making prior arrangements via telecommunications. You're literate and reading this on a website using a computer, a vast collection of manufactured items ... You get the idea.


I meant natural life. You know, animals/plants... Those things that inhabited this planet for millions of years before us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life

Christ, how far have things come


I understand your point now. I didn't realize that your last sentence referred to human-managed 'wilderness'.

Anyway, what is your solution? Starvation doesn't seem like an option.


Why starvation? Is there nothing between being adequately fed and starvation?


What solution do you recommend?


Consumption patterns will have to change.

Regulate the supply side with land use restrictions and restoration of natural habitat; introduce subsidies for underdeveloped and emerging economies to prevent further ecosystem degradation out of economic necessity.

With a set limit on land use, market prices would adjust accordingly (i.e. meat price rises), consumption will reduce (accompanied by some whining) and food innovators get more time and market share for sustainable alternatives.

See https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_and_agriculture




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