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posted by martyb on Tuesday January 11 2022, @04:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the Betteridge-says-"No" dept.

Can We Feed Billions of Ourselves Without Wrecking the Planet?

We are now producing more food more efficiently than ever, and there is plenty to go around for a human population of 7 billion. But it is coming at a drastic cost in environmental degradation, and the bounty is not reaching many people.

Sustainable Food Production, a new Earth Institute primer from Columbia University Press, explores how modern agriculture can be made more environmentally benign, and economically just. With population going to maybe 10 billion within 30 years, the time to start is now, the authors say.

The lead author is ecologist Shahid Naeem, director of the Earth Institute for Environmental Sustainability. He coauthored the book with former Columbia colleagues Suzanne Lipton and Tiff van Huysen.

This is an interesting interview with the author. Do you agree (or disagree) with his conclusions?

Columbia Climate School

[Also Covered By]: Phys.org


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 15 2022, @01:30PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 15 2022, @01:30PM (#1212904) Journal

    Our switch from coal to natural gas has dramatically reduced mercury emissions, but we're still far from "doing a great job" about taking care of the environment.

    Ok, you just complained about mercury as an example of how the US wasn't doing a great job about taking care of the environment and now, we see it wasn't a good example.

    2006 Houston was blanketing the town in soot and all kinds of crap from the fuel refinery that got on-shored after the offshore platforms got wiped by Katrina/Rita.

    How often do emergencies like Katrina and Rita happen to the oil industry? Sorry, just because an emergency happened doesn't mean that the US isn't taking care of its environment.

    It's well known among local anglers that snapper and other species of desirable food fish gather at the drill sites, but when you catch them there you can literally taste the crude oil in the meat.

    Maybe shouldn't do that then.

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 16 2022, @05:59PM (1 child)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 16 2022, @05:59PM (#1213176)

    the US wasn't doing a great job about taking care of the environment and now, we see it wasn't a good example.

    Depends on your definition of "great job" better than flaming rivers and 100% of lakes 100% dead from acid rain, yeah, we're beating that standard - now.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 16 2022, @06:39PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 16 2022, @06:39PM (#1213188) Journal
      Oh look, another example! I knew you had it in you. I'll finish with my reply to this post [soylentnews.org].