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Post by bo862 on Oct 26, 2011 11:49:49 GMT -5
I have seen this mentioned several times here. Thought there may be some interest. "Sometime on Monday, Oct. 31, the world's population is projected to hit 7 billion. Is that numerical milestone a cause for celebration or concern? " www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44990504/ns/us_news-life/\ |
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Post by marcus on Oct 27, 2011 10:39:27 GMT -5
Most of the land is still um populated.Just look at how much empty land we have in the US.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2011 10:55:30 GMT -5
I'd say concern. We dont have enough farmers in the US to keep feeding the growing population. Not counting the steriod chicken and cow farms, the US is really short supplied on produce. Imported produce from Mexico and South America seem to out number what is grown in the US. We would really be hurting if those supplies dried up as well. Just my 2 cents  |
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Post by bo862 on Oct 27, 2011 15:38:47 GMT -5
Most of the land is still um populated.Just look at how much empty land we have in the US. That is true, but it has more to do with the amount of productive land (food) we have. We can build a house anywhere; we can’t grow food on a rock or permafrost. An example is the use of land by cattle ranchers across the Midwest. Between loss of vegetation and increasing droughts the land is not able to support the amount of livestock it once did. This year has been the longest and worst drought for the region on record. The loss of cattle has become so severe that they are trying to cross breed the usual cattle with a type from India to make them more drought resistant. Due to land degradation and to the spreading of desert conditions we are left with less usable and less fertile land.If you remember the major flood we had along the Mississippi earlier this year where they opened up levies to divert the flood to crop lands instead of homes caused major losses of crops. Increased population, dwindling usable land, and the unforeseen climate/weather disasters will lead to potential food shortages at some point in the future. All of this leads to more loss of food production here at home and increase in imports from S. America. A better example would be the Arab spring. Tunisia’s masses depend largely on wheat imports from the caucuses (former USSR). Their loss of wheat in that region from drought was severe enough that they banned shipments to other nations so they would have enough to feed their own. World food shortages caused (assisted) the domino effect. I would hate to for us to be caught without the ability to support our full population from our own land. Natural disasters make larger populations risky as far as maintaining stable levels of food. |
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Post by marcus on Oct 28, 2011 4:50:30 GMT -5
True bo862 point taken.
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