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> We can now grow enough food to feed the world We grow food on topsoil. Topsoil is soil with microorganisms, worms and insects in it. You cannot grow food on

> We can now grow enough food to feed the world We grow food on topsoil. Topsoil is soil with microorganisms, worms and insects in it. You cannot grow food on sterile soil. Topsoil takes a long time to form, and very short time to be consumed. We are using topsoil at a higher rate than it is replenished. The rate at which we use topsoil increases over time. We are very wasteful with our use of topsoil. We discard ugly vegetables, or vegetables outside certain arbitrary parameters despite them being perfectly edible, or simply to keep prices down. The reality is: over time, that statement is false. Topsoil is dying, and so are we.

carapace 4y ago
We're learning to grow food in ways that increases the amount and fertility of topsoil, so it's not a foregone conclusion. E.g. Permaculture, Syntropic and Regenerative agriculture, etc. Check out the transformation of the Loess Plateau in China. It was rendered into a wasteland by bad farming practices and then re-vegetated and revitalized: http://eempc.org/lessons-of-the-loess-plateau/ http://eempc.org/lessons-of-the-loess-plateau/
- trasz 4y ago
  Not to mention things like the seawater rice: https://www.bloombergquint.com/china/chinese-scientists-discover-how-to-grow-seawater-rice https://www.bloombergquint.com/china/chinese-scientists-disc...
- 29athrowaway 4y ago
  At scale? Can this be implemented globally in a few decades? What about making it work in places going dry? Desalination plants and wastewater treatment plants have existed for decades, but are expensive. Today, many people don't have access to clean water because of this. Rifles and ammunition are cheaper than new water infrastructure so war over water will take place everywhere before water conservation technology is deployed.
  - carapace 4y ago
    > At scale? Yes, of course, all lifeforms reproduce exponentially. Literally the biosphere would (re-)vivify the Earth automatically if we just stop destroying it. It's been doing it for four billion years. > Can this be implemented globally in a few decades? That I cannot say, but I believe the limiting factors are social/political rather than biological or physical. In other words, yes, if we have the will we could probably turn things around, go from destruction to regeneration, within three decades. It would be unprecedented but I don't see any intrinsic physical reasons that we couldn't do it. The revitalization of the Loess Plateau took less than three decades, and as a side-effect it now produces all the material needed to repeat the process in a new place. > What about making it work in places going dry? Yes. Not only can we do this in places going dry, we can convert desert to (productive food) forest where ever we need it. E.g. "Greening the Desert" https://www.greeningthedesertproject.org/ https://www.greeningthedesertproject.org/ project in Jordan. People are using ecological principles all over the world to regenerate large areas. > Desalination plants and wastewater treatment plants have existed for decades, but are expensive. Today, many people don't have access to clean water because of this. It's a huge problem, it's true. But progress is being made. E.g. check out the projects described in "India's Water Revolution" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE We can transform the deserts into paradise. The rains will fall. (I'm going to stop now before I start quoting passages from "Dune") ;) > Rifles and ammunition are cheaper than new water infrastructure so war over water will take place everywhere before water conservation technology is deployed. Water projects are far cheaper and easier than making bullets. Check out the video I linked above.
    - 29athrowaway 4y ago
      Well, that won't do. You are not thinking at scale. It requires training people that do not have the resources to acquire training.
      - carapace 4y ago
        Could you elaborate a little? I mean education is also a (potentially) exponential process, in the sense that e.g. one literate person can teach many others to read, who can then teach even more people. Certainly some people will need resources as well as training to get started in their area, but we can afford to do that.

carapace 4y ago

We're learning to grow food in ways that increases the amount and fertility of topsoil, so it's not a foregone conclusion. E.g. Permaculture, Syntropic and Regenerative agriculture, etc. Check out the transformation of the Loess Plateau in China. It was rendered into a wasteland by bad farming practices and then re-vegetated and revitalized: http://eempc.org/lessons-of-the-loess-plateau/ http://eempc.org/lessons-of-the-loess-plateau/

trasz 4y ago
Not to mention things like the seawater rice: https://www.bloombergquint.com/china/chinese-scientists-discover-how-to-grow-seawater-rice https://www.bloombergquint.com/china/chinese-scientists-disc...
29athrowaway 4y ago
At scale? Can this be implemented globally in a few decades? What about making it work in places going dry? Desalination plants and wastewater treatment plants have existed for decades, but are expensive. Today, many people don't have access to clean water because of this. Rifles and ammunition are cheaper than new water infrastructure so war over water will take place everywhere before water conservation technology is deployed.
- carapace 4y ago
  > At scale? Yes, of course, all lifeforms reproduce exponentially. Literally the biosphere would (re-)vivify the Earth automatically if we just stop destroying it. It's been doing it for four billion years. > Can this be implemented globally in a few decades? That I cannot say, but I believe the limiting factors are social/political rather than biological or physical. In other words, yes, if we have the will we could probably turn things around, go from destruction to regeneration, within three decades. It would be unprecedented but I don't see any intrinsic physical reasons that we couldn't do it. The revitalization of the Loess Plateau took less than three decades, and as a side-effect it now produces all the material needed to repeat the process in a new place. > What about making it work in places going dry? Yes. Not only can we do this in places going dry, we can convert desert to (productive food) forest where ever we need it. E.g. "Greening the Desert" https://www.greeningthedesertproject.org/ https://www.greeningthedesertproject.org/ project in Jordan. People are using ecological principles all over the world to regenerate large areas. > Desalination plants and wastewater treatment plants have existed for decades, but are expensive. Today, many people don't have access to clean water because of this. It's a huge problem, it's true. But progress is being made. E.g. check out the projects described in "India's Water Revolution" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE We can transform the deserts into paradise. The rains will fall. (I'm going to stop now before I start quoting passages from "Dune") ;) > Rifles and ammunition are cheaper than new water infrastructure so war over water will take place everywhere before water conservation technology is deployed. Water projects are far cheaper and easier than making bullets. Check out the video I linked above.
  - 29athrowaway 4y ago
    Well, that won't do. You are not thinking at scale. It requires training people that do not have the resources to acquire training.
    - carapace 4y ago
      Could you elaborate a little? I mean education is also a (potentially) exponential process, in the sense that e.g. one literate person can teach many others to read, who can then teach even more people. Certainly some people will need resources as well as training to get started in their area, but we can afford to do that.