5 ms·

The best idea that comes to my mind is to go vegetarian and to learn to distribute food better. We are already producing way more food that people need. If we

The best idea that comes to my mind is to go vegetarian and to learn to distribute food better. We are already producing way more food that people need. If we just stopped feeding it to cows, pigs and chicken, readjusted production for more vegetarian diet.

ebiester 5y ago
Maybe. If crops fail, it's going to depend on what crops fail. We won't have the option of radically reapportioning our crops on the fly; while a pre-emptive move to vegetarianism might help, that's a radical solution for a problem that may happen every 20,000 years. So, consider what happens. If crops like alfalfa end up more resilient, we probably won't eat those past their sprout stage. However, if they can feed rabbits, it may be incredibly valuable as an option. However, we would absolutely be looking to prioritize vegetables that can be processed for either human or animal consumption, even if they're not particularly palatable. I think the real problem, however, is the calories that would be available from such. I think it's fair to say that if the food dries up, we would cull herds early and prioritize the most efficient food sources. We would likely be eating much less meat, if at all. We would not have room to be picky with our food.
- saalweachter 5y ago
  > We would likely be eating much less meat, if at all. In the short term, we would probably end up eating a lot more meat -- most of the hundreds of millions of cows, pigs and chickens we could cull wouldn't be slaughtered at the optimal time, being too young or too old, but we'd still be insane not to preserve as much of the meat as possible. > We won't have the option of radically reapportioning our crops on the fly... We can't turn alfalfa into wheat or rice, nor grow rice or wheat in all places we now have pastures, but we will have the option to redirect the corn and soybeans we use for livestock feed. These feeds are produced to lower standards -- for instance, there are higher limits on residual pesticides -- but in a catastrophe it's better than nothing.
FredPret 5y ago
OK, if you can eat the hay that is currently fed to the cows I eat, have at it
- lmilcin 5y ago
  You aware that most cows do not live on nice farms when they get to wander around and eat grass? Grass-fed cows are slow to bulk up. That's why they are fed with much more calorie-rich food like grain.
  - i_am_proteus 5y ago
    I wonder if we have the milling capacity on hand to convert feed maize to corn meal for a one- or two-year crop shortage. It needs to be milled and nixtamalized before it's fit for human consumption. It might be more efficient to distribute it as feed and just raise a bunch more egg layers in suburban lots. Probably faster than trying to stand up a bunch of mills right quick, too.
  - Zababa 5y ago
    > You aware that most cows do not live on nice farms when they get to wander around and eat grass? That's how they live in France.
  - Loughla 5y ago
    Also, just as a note, almost all 'grass-fed' beef is finished on grain supplement. It's what adds that delicious marbling everyone wants in a steak.
scottlawson 5y ago
How exactly will this defend humankind from supervolcano eruption?
- lmilcin 5y ago
  Humankind does not need to be defended from supervolcano eruption. A bunch of people will survive and continue "humankind". On the other if you are in to save actual human lives, lack of food is going to be your biggest worry.
  - kiba 5y ago
    It would be best to approach the supervolcano problem with defense in depth. Increasing food supply production, efficiency, and resiliency are commendable goals in itself and should be done in conjunction in figuring out how to defuse the supervolcano.
  - shusaku 5y ago
    The above poster asked you to clarify your point in good faith and this is how you respond? Clearly he was asking for details about how vegetarianism would produce a more robust food supply.
aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago
>go vegetarian Hmmm… In The Road they used the complete opposite strategy.
kleer001 5y ago
You mean a mycophile diet? Mushrooms will save humanity. High protein, doesn't need the sun for energy, lives off of refuse, can remediate waste, some have medical properties, etc...
- rednerrus 5y ago
  Mushrooms and snails will be on the menu.
  - kleer001 5y ago
    frogs too
- abecedarius 5y ago
  There ought to be serious R&D towards ways to survive a global agriculture outage at scale (supervolcanos aren't the only threat) -- maybe mushrooms could save humanity then, I don't know.
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  Humans don't spend nearly enough time considering how valuable mushrooms and bugs are as food sources. Wild pigs have it figured out.

ebiester 5y ago

Maybe. If crops fail, it's going to depend on what crops fail. We won't have the option of radically reapportioning our crops on the fly; while a pre-emptive move to vegetarianism might help, that's a radical solution for a problem that may happen every 20,000 years. So, consider what happens. If crops like alfalfa end up more resilient, we probably won't eat those past their sprout stage. However, if they can feed rabbits, it may be incredibly valuable as an option. However, we would absolutely be looking to prioritize vegetables that can be processed for either human or animal consumption, even if they're not particularly palatable. I think the real problem, however, is the calories that would be available from such. I think it's fair to say that if the food dries up, we would cull herds early and prioritize the most efficient food sources. We would likely be eating much less meat, if at all. We would not have room to be picky with our food.

saalweachter 5y ago
> We would likely be eating much less meat, if at all. In the short term, we would probably end up eating a lot more meat -- most of the hundreds of millions of cows, pigs and chickens we could cull wouldn't be slaughtered at the optimal time, being too young or too old, but we'd still be insane not to preserve as much of the meat as possible. > We won't have the option of radically reapportioning our crops on the fly... We can't turn alfalfa into wheat or rice, nor grow rice or wheat in all places we now have pastures, but we will have the option to redirect the corn and soybeans we use for livestock feed. These feeds are produced to lower standards -- for instance, there are higher limits on residual pesticides -- but in a catastrophe it's better than nothing.

FredPret 5y ago

OK, if you can eat the hay that is currently fed to the cows I eat, have at it

lmilcin 5y ago
You aware that most cows do not live on nice farms when they get to wander around and eat grass? Grass-fed cows are slow to bulk up. That's why they are fed with much more calorie-rich food like grain.
- i_am_proteus 5y ago
  I wonder if we have the milling capacity on hand to convert feed maize to corn meal for a one- or two-year crop shortage. It needs to be milled and nixtamalized before it's fit for human consumption. It might be more efficient to distribute it as feed and just raise a bunch more egg layers in suburban lots. Probably faster than trying to stand up a bunch of mills right quick, too.
- Zababa 5y ago
  > You aware that most cows do not live on nice farms when they get to wander around and eat grass? That's how they live in France.
- Loughla 5y ago
  Also, just as a note, almost all 'grass-fed' beef is finished on grain supplement. It's what adds that delicious marbling everyone wants in a steak.

scottlawson 5y ago

How exactly will this defend humankind from supervolcano eruption?

lmilcin 5y ago
Humankind does not need to be defended from supervolcano eruption. A bunch of people will survive and continue "humankind". On the other if you are in to save actual human lives, lack of food is going to be your biggest worry.
- kiba 5y ago
  It would be best to approach the supervolcano problem with defense in depth. Increasing food supply production, efficiency, and resiliency are commendable goals in itself and should be done in conjunction in figuring out how to defuse the supervolcano.
- shusaku 5y ago
  The above poster asked you to clarify your point in good faith and this is how you respond? Clearly he was asking for details about how vegetarianism would produce a more robust food supply.

aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago

>go vegetarian Hmmm… In The Road they used the complete opposite strategy.

kleer001 5y ago

You mean a mycophile diet? Mushrooms will save humanity. High protein, doesn't need the sun for energy, lives off of refuse, can remediate waste, some have medical properties, etc...

rednerrus 5y ago
Mushrooms and snails will be on the menu.
- kleer001 5y ago
  frogs too
abecedarius 5y ago
There ought to be serious R&D towards ways to survive a global agriculture outage at scale (supervolcanos aren't the only threat) -- maybe mushrooms could save humanity then, I don't know.
micromacrofoot 5y ago
Humans don't spend nearly enough time considering how valuable mushrooms and bugs are as food sources. Wild pigs have it figured out.