Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Population

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Liz" <liz@allslash.org>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Population
  • Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:08:34 -0500

Ken said, "Organic, no-till farming will support the population of the earth regardless of how high it goes." Without trying to put words in his mouth, I think what he might have been implying is that in a sustainable system, the population wouldn't grow larger than the carrying capacity. Of course, as you point out, there are extremes, and in some years, no matter how hard people worked, there might not be enough for everyone to eat comfortably. I'm not certain the dust bowl is a good comparison, though, considering that it was unsustainable practices that exacerbated the drought.
 
I like the parable of the seven good years and seven lean years. Put away for the future, food as well as money. That wouldn't get a community through something like the nearly-decade-long disaster of the dust bowl, but for less extreme situations, it could make the difference between survival, even if under hardship conditions, and starvation.
 
Liz
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 1:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Population

This is an interesting conversation. My thoughts:

I don't think humans are immune to the constraints of carrying capacity no matter how sustainably they farm - or, in the converse train of thought, how creative they get with genetics. Carrying capacity varies around the globe, depending on climate, soil fertility, water resources, environmental health, etc. You'll have a hard time making a farm in the desert without an unsustainable supply of water.

As for common labor producing surplus, that is a good point, and probably applicable now in many places. But as the dust bowl showed us, there are extreme exceptions. As population grows and climate shifts, certain parts of the Earth just might not produce the bounty that they did in the past, no matter how many people are willing to offer their labor.
 



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page