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Most Earthlings live in cities. Cities are way more efficient than spread-out rural towns and villages[1], but we still mostly rely on rural land for food, so
by namuol 8y ago
Most Earthlings live in cities.
Cities are way more efficient than spread-out rural towns and villages[1], but we still mostly rely on rural land for food, so they continue to exist. Because rural needs and daily experiences are very different from the average city-dweller, so too are their political beliefs.
The less we need to depend on rural land for food, the more people move into cities, the more efficient everything becomes.
[1] I'd recommend reading the chapter on Dense Cities from Whole Earth Discipline - totally changed my perspective on cities.
- squish78 8y agoWe need to find a way to make those rural communities not continue to exist. Their way of life is wrong and inefficient.
- turc1656 8y agoIs this sarcasm? Doesn't seem like sarcasm in context but the phrasing and "WTF?" reaction I had make it feel like sarcasm.
- namuol 8y agoHow do you feel about coal mining? Is that a way of life?
- squish78 8y agoI have no feelings about coal mining because I know nothing about that industry. How is that relevant in a thread about agriculture?
- refurb 8y agoI have no feelings about coal mining because I know nothing about that industry. Why should that stop you from having a strongly held opinion that you can share to prove everyone else wrong?
- namuol 8y agoDo you believe we should continue mining and burning coal? It's bad, but if we close all the coal mines and factories, a lot of people will lose their way of life. Large-scale farming (which vastly dominates the rural land mass of the US) has similarly dramatic downsides.
- squish78 8y agoLike I said, I know nothing about the coal industry so I can't offer an informed opinion. Commercial farming covers an order of magnitude more land and employment than energy extraction. There are alternative energies to coal. There are not alternatives to food. Urban agriculture is a logistical impossibility without removing all meat, dairy, corn, wheat, and soy from the world's food supply.
- namuol 8y agoWhy must everything be absolute? You can have urban farming and rural farming. Urban farming would obviously have to happen gradually, so start with easier stuff. It's not "impossible". The point is that it will reduce pressure from rural areas which are going to be stressed significantly in the coming decades.
- AngryData 8y agoDo you think people that are able to grow some, if not all, their own food and heat their homes with renewable wood is so wrong and inefficient?