3 ms·

Are the numbers in the article assumptions?

• trevyn 8y ago
  Seems like there’s an underlying assumption that “land use” is something to optimize for, which strikes me as odd. Earth is huge. Even if that was valid, a second-order effect is to increase carrying capacity and increase the rate of population growth.
  • rohit2412 8y ago
    You aren't growing food in deserts, Arctic tundra and don't want to cut down rainforests. Even now there are people who can't afford food, the more efficiently farming is done, the cheaper food will be for them.
  • passiveincomelg 8y ago
    Not all land is the same. But I don't think it's about land use. It's about water usage, soil and water contamination, deforestation, greenhouse gas emission and the inefficient conversion of plant calories to animal calories. Oh and of course the tiny little detail that applying the efficiency optimizer that is capitalism results in atrocious treatment of sentient beings (pardon the pathos, feel free to substitute with emotionless words if you can think of any).
    • tagh 8y ago
      Your vitriol undermines your message.
      • passiveincomelg 8y ago
        Sorry. It didn't seem so bad to me, just a bit too much pathos maybe, as I wrote. I didn't want to spend more time rewording my comment. Of course the second paragraph is only my opinion. Just ignore it if it bothers you.