Only Organics Can Feed The World -- Article

[Tussiemussies]

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12018-only-organics-can-feed-the-hungry-world-heres-why

[Mrs-M]

A really interesting article that opens up many doors as to the realities of our steadily growing world/population, and how we stretch the boundaries and limitations to exist.

I wonder when a population changing epidemic will come. I think about that a lot.

[awakenedsoul]

If you grow your own food organically, you really see and feel the difference in the soil, the atmosphere, and the wildlife that healthy soil attracts. My compost pile is teeming with red wiggler worms, microbes, and bugs. I am blown away at the production of my vegetable gardens. It's hard for me to keep up with it. But, it's such a good feeling to have plenty of food in the yard, in the fridge and in the freezer. When you use organic methods, you just know it's better. I remember that awful taste of pesticides on the fruit I used to eat from our ranch. Even after we washed the pears, you could still taste it. My garden is buzzing with bees, butterflies, ladybugs, and all types of birds. They are the messengers. If I were to spray, they would leave or die.

[Gregg]

My garden is buzzing with bees, butterflies, ladybugs, and all types of birds. They are the messengers.


In every sense of the word. +1

[puglogic]

Mrs. M, this is your "epidemic" I fear :

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/business/15-Oct-2012/un-warns-of-worldwide-food-crisis-in-2013

I believe this too about 2013, and have for some time. So I keep building my (organic) garden, reducing my debt, staying the heck out of the stock market, and practicing meditation to remember that I can't save the world.

I have been doing some local teaching of organic/permaculture methods, and it's wonderful to see people getting into it!

[ApatheticNoMore]

None of that is likely to his the first world, military and economic superiority is for eating superiority. We'll keep putting corn in our cars. What people are starving, let me go fill up my car with corn ... As for epidemic will it kill more or less than the Iraq war? Since that and the sanctions on Iraq killed what a million, a half a million, maybe that's an epidemic of sorts.

[Mrs-M]

Thanks for the link, Puglogic.

While I don't formally mediatate, I do practice what I call "realistic thinking", and that definitely helps a lot. So much is totally out of our control, yet somehow, it's all too easy to fret and stir over the worldly woes and troubles that plague mankind.

[Gregg]

Food and water are both the most highly prized commodity and the weapons of the (near) future. No way around it unless something happens to wipe out about 1/3 of the global population. In the shorter term think in terms of a bushel of wheat being worth a barrel of oil and all the ramifications of that balancing act.

[decemberlov]

Wow, very scary. Suddenly by "food hoarding" issue doesn't seem so crazy!

[puglogic]

None of that is likely to his the first world, military and economic superiority is for eating superiority. We'll keep putting corn in our cars. What people are starving, let me go fill up my car with corn ... As for epidemic will it kill more or less than the Iraq war? Since that and the sanctions on Iraq killed what a million, a half a million, maybe that's an epidemic of sorts.

Call me wacky, but I think a global famine will have profound repercussions throughout the world. Hell, global poverty already does. Do you think half the conflicts going on in the world would even be happening if people had a decent quality of life? It is angry, disgruntled, disenfranchised (or just plain hungry) people who turn on one another.

Mrs M, I like your "realistic thinking." My meditations are a lot like "realistic thinking with love." May we all see our way through to the other side of this, whatever the other side looks like!

[SteveinMN]

Do you think half the conflicts going on in the world would even be happening if people had a decent quality of life? It is angry, disgruntled, disenfranchised (or just plain hungry) people who turn on one another.
I think there are many cultures about which we (as Americans) don't understand a thing. We've fostered our own conflicts, sometimes out of convenience (Vietnam War, Iraq "war") -- people with a very decent quality of life going after a few military leaders in each country and letting most of the (already-poor) population suffer as collateral damage. And we're seeing, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, that tribalism trumps just about everything. Streams of refugees leave war-torn countries and barely have the energy to survive, never mind fight back. Even a brand-new school or bridge built is a target for rockets and suicide bombers if the people in that town are different from 'you'.

I used to think that economic opportunity was a great equalizer; giving people a stake in what's going on would leave them less willing to upset the cart by resorting to violence. But I'm honestly thinking that some cultures are only okay with absolute rule (theirs, of course) even if it means everyone is living in the gutter.

[Gardenarian]

Great article! I had never heard of that website - looks like lots of goodies there.
Thanks!!

[ApatheticNoMore]

Food harvests are actually near all time record:

"At the currently forecast level, world cereal production in 2012 would be 2.6 percent down from the previous year's record crop but close to the second largest in 2008. The overall decrease comprises a 5.2 percent reduction in wheat production and a 2.3 percent reduction for coarse grains."
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/161602/icode/

The problem is population growth and increased demand for food, much of which is used to make biofuels. Like I said much of the reason people will starve, if they do, is because the 1st world chooses to burn food as fuel. It's deliberate policy.

[freein05]

A very interesting article. As an side, I had some cousins that were farmers in Nebraska. They farmed from the late 60s to the 1980s. A few of them died from cancer. Many of these very conservative Midwestern farmers blamed it on the chemicals they used on their crops. No scientific studies but just the feelings of serving spouses.