Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

I could of course not agree more Pete, population is the key to just about all our problems. And I think it is great that can be mentioned now without being lynched. Even ten years ago it was nearly lethal to do so. (I still have bruises from those days)

But there is also another aspect of population and that is technology and "progress". If population should drop to sustainable levels, say around 200 million for the whole planet, you can forget a new super-fast computer to come out next year or hypermarts and fast food chains to survive. It is almost impossible to envisage an electricity or even land line telephone network to survive.

john

It would help but wouldn't stop it. Their comments about Israel's agriculture are misleading from what I hear as well, true they make reasonable use of drip irrigation - however the sea of galilee has been at redline levels for years now, most of their streams are drying up, the dead sea is going away (its been 2 seas for some time) since its freshwater sources are overtapped by upstream use, they have to dam parts of the jordan so the palestinians don't suck it dry, about 70 percent of their water is from desalianation which is getting more expensive as its privatized. The same is true in lebanon, egypt, and jordan. They (isreal) also are shifting to industrial agriculture - and if hadn't been for a recent discovery of natural gas would probably be worried about how they'll service agricultural needs in the years go come.

So yes the mideast is more careful about water but it isn't going to save them. Just like compact lightbulbs and pumping up your tires aren't going to make other resources appear in abundance. All good ideas, but not serious solutions.

The bottom line seems to always be population. No matter how people dice it, no matter how careful they want to be there just isn't enough water to go around.

--pete

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From: John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net>
To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 2:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Can Anything Save the Drying Southwest?

Stop industrial agriculture and plant drought resistant shrubs and trees?
john

>
> Can Anything Save the Drying Southwest?
> http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2115815,00.html
>
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> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
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