Tom Bri <[log in to unmask]> wrote: I live in the middle of ag country.
How much land is given over to producing the fruits and vegetables we eat?
Very little compared to grains. Switching from grain-fed animals to grass
fed on that land would not be much of a problem.
Yes, as I mentioned, that is one of Cordain's suggestions. We agree that
some small improvements can be made, though it will take a sea change to
even make these little steps happen. If the world's population could
actually decrease somewhat overall (not just in industrialized nations),
then the world might be able to go back to many of the practices of 100
years ago when farming was mostly organic, cattle were mainly grass fed,
chickens were fed more flax seeds and no soy, and there were few food
additives. Some of these changes are very gradually occurring now in the
wealthiest nations, as more grass-fed beef is put on the market, some
chickens are again being fed flax seeds (which my grandfather fed his
chickens), and there are more organic and additive-free choices in
supermarkets.
> The reason farmers moved to grain feeding was political, not economic,
the government controls grain prices, making grain cheaper to feed than
grass. The problem is to convince the government to stop doing this, and
in a few years farmers would stop feeding grain so much, except for high-
end specialty meats.
And the government controls grain prices because the corporate
agribusinesses like the grain lobby give them political donations in
return for the price subsidies, tariffs on foreign agricultural goods,
etc. So money is behind it and it will be difficult to overcome the power
of this money, but we should try.
> A long post, and enough for today. This has been posted about several
times in the last few years.
Thanks for the tip. I have only been perusing these fora from time to time
since 2004 and didn't notice this topic. From my search of the archives it
looks like the topic of the problem that overpopulation poses SPECIFICALLY
for the Paleo diet hasn't been discussed since August 2004 (Item # 046854)
and that post was focused more on the problem of overpopulation in general
than the problem it poses for the Paleo diet (though this was mentioned),
so maybe we were due for another discussion. Most of the posts discussing
overpopulation appear to be about the general topic, rather how it relates
specifically to the Paleo-diet, but I should have done a search before
posting on the topic. Sorry about that.
The vast majority of past posts about overpopulation discussed the general
topic, rather than how it relates to the Paleo diet. I hope this
discussion does not digress into a debate about world population in
general, as that would not be relevant to this forum.
Here are some good points that were made in 2002, and my responses:
< rick and/or linda strong wrote > How do we reconcile our Paleolithic
preferences with Neolithic reality; is it a matter of let us
eat "correctly" and hope that the "masses" buy up the bad food??
It certainly appears that way. Additionally, within 20 years or so I think
that many of the Paleo foods will become too expensive for us here as
well. Already I have cut back on tree nuts as they have become much more
expensive in my area than they were a couple of years ago. The demand for
some Paleo foods like tree nuts and flaxseed oil has grown even among
people who know nothing of the Paleo diet because the Paleo foods are the
healthiest foods and studies demonstrating their health benefits push up
demand.
< Tom ([log in to unmask]) wrote > For the poor there is no question
that for the near future at least current diet types have to be continued.
I think that a paleo outlook could go a long way toward improving the
quality of that diet though. Halfway stations like the Weston Price
concepts could make an enourmous difference in health
Yes, the gradual approach appears to be the only realistic wide-scale
option. One problem with this for us is, as people learn about the
benefits of the Paleo foods, they won't be satisfied with a Weston Price
diet and will drive up the prices of Paleo foods. In a free market we
can't force people to buy Weston Price foods instead of Paleo foods.
< Paul (The Getty's) wrote > I think it is a matter of having enough money
to eat the way you want.
Yes, the millionaires and billionaires will be in pretty good shape no
matter what prices the Paleo foods rise to (at least in our lifetime,
before the Paleo food plants and animals are in later centuries driven
further into extinction and it becomes increasingly difficult for anyone
to eat a varied balanced diet of Paleo foods). The rest of us may be
screwed. :) We think we are OK because we have enough money now, but will
we or our children or grandchildren have enough in 20 or 50 years?
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