I came accross that post and thought it was good arguments to respond
to
the claim that a  vegetarian  diet need less surface to be produced.
jean-claude

To: Ecobalance list <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Eat the World!
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 14:27:12 -0600

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Ariki quotes Masanobu Fukuoka:

>"On a diet of just grains, the carrying capacity of earth is sixty times
the
>current population."
>Food for thought!

Yes, if we want to completely destroy diversity in order to feed
ourselves.
 Grain is not really an ecologically sound proposition, although there
are
certainly sustainable ways (such as Fukuoka's) to grow LIMITED amounts
of
grain.

We need to stop thinking in terms of how many PEOPLE the earth will
support
and start thinking about carrying capacity in terms of having a
BALANCE of
plants and animals, retaining the diverse characteristics of different
landscapes, and having enough "space" for everyone to coexist, not
just
enough food.

>From that perspective, we very definitely have a population problem.  Large
nomadic herd animals, and the peoples who follow them, are practically
extinct now.  That should have been the first sign that something was
amiss: we have already nearly completely eliminated one vital way of
life -
nomadism.  There is not enough open land to support it, because so
much
land has been given over to agriculture, homes, etc.  Domestic animals
are
fenced in and nomadic ones are fenced out.

So there's another argument against everyone becoming vegetarians: by
doing
so we are lulled into thinking we won't have a population problem.  In
truth, the more food we can produce the more people we will produce.
Follow that to its logical conclusion, and nothing will remain on
earth
that is not artificially produced for the purpose of feeding humans.
Better that we understand the problem BEFORE it gets to that point,
since I
doubt we or anything else would survive for long under those
conditions
anyway.

This is sort of along the lines of some environmentalists who go out
of
their way to drive gas-guzzling cars because they figure the sooner we
use
up all the fossil fuels, the sooner we'll come up with a better
solution to
our energy problems.  Can't say I disagree entirely with that
philosophy.
:-)

= Lee =