Paleo Phil wrote:
>
> Marilyn hit the nail on the head. The only long term solution to all the
> problems of not enough cheap energy supplies, too much pollution, and not
> enough Paleo foods to feed the global population is a massive population
> reduction, which even in the most optimistic scenarios will take far longer
> to achieve than our lifetimes. There is currently only enough Paleo food on
> the entire planet to feed a fraction of the world's population--most
> estimates are under 2%--and even a population of a billion (which was
> exceeded even before the recognized start of the industrial revolution)
> would be less than 15% of today's global population. Even massive wars
> (which no reasonable person would advocate) on the scale of WWII would take
> a long time to get the population down to 15% of today's level.
>
There are so many assumptions here that it's hard to know where to
start. I don't buy into the assumptions you have made. Firstly, I
don't beleive that every has to eat paleo, or even most people. Those
of who choose to TRY to eat paleo is only a small fraction of the
population, a very small fraction, and likely to be that way for a long
long time, perhaps forever. I've no doubt that food can be formulated
that provides the benefit of paleo, far in excess of our attempts to TRY
to eat paleo. A true paleo diet 400-800 varieties of foods each year, a
number far far in excess and with far far more variety than any current
attempts any of us might be making to eat paleo.
So, False assumption 1) everyone has to eat paleo or somehow has to be
corralled into eating paleo (by force?)
False Assumption 2), the planet cannot carry the humans it has
regardless of management, technology, or any other tools or desired eating.
False Assumption 3), humans will always be confined to earth.
False Assumption 4), energy is in short supply and/or energy prices are
too high.
I don't have a problem with higher energy pricing because profits
produce SOLUTIONS and high oil prices (which are artificially high
because most of the world's oil is controlled by governments and oil
lobbies promote policies and laws that restrict new energy entrants into
the market place).
Personally, and you can debate if this is "Paleo", but my next house
will be more energy efficient, heated and cooled wight geothermal power
which is completely FREE except for the cost of equipment which is
decreasing quickly AND will have solar power with solar panel efficiency
starting to improve on a cost per watt basis. I would also like to
capture my household's gray water with minimal processing for the
landscaping and garden, an eatable landscaping I might add.
> The carrying capacity of the planet for hunter-gatherers by some estimates
> is about 1 person per square mile or 10 square km. The Earth's total land
> area is 57,268,900 square miles (148,326,000 kmē), which equals 29% of the
> total surface of the Earth. However, not all of that land area is suitable
> for hunter-gatherer living. So, if these figures are valid, the carrying
> capacity of the planet for hunter gatherers might be less than 50 million.
>
>
Why does everyone have to forced to be hunter gatherers or Mormons or
Catholics or vegetarians or whatever?
> To make matters worse, Paleo foods are rapidly disappearing (some scientists
> predict that the wild fish stocks like salmon will be decimated within a few
> decades and around 200 plant and animal species reportedly go extinct every
> day). Even expansion of production of Paleo foods via wild plant
> horticulture, family-organic farming, expansion of wild game herds (such as
> buffalo and deer) and near-wild domestic animal populations (pasture-fed and
> free-range animals and domestication of wild animals), etc. would not come
> close to meeting the food needs of the planet without modern agrarian foods.
>
>
Then provide a modern alternative. While fish farming does not produce
equivalant output to wild caught options, this can be improved. Perhaps
a new category like organic, wild farmed, could be introduced. I prefer
to look for solutions rather than rant about about how everyone won't
live my personal lifestyle.
> Anti-environmentalist modernists say they don't care when species of plants,
> small fish and other wild animals go extinct, because they don't consider
> these wild ancestral foods to be food at all and instead consider the
> farmed, processed and manufactured foods of the last 10,000 years to be the
> "real" foods. They think that as long as there is enough wheat, corn, soy,
> rice, and milk to go around, humans will be fine. They don't realize that
> shortage of food is not the problem--shortage of nutrient-rich, wild,
> ancestral foods that we are biologically adapted/designed to eat is.
>
>
There are solutions. Do anyone see Pen & Tellers BullShit epesode on
environmentalism?
> I answered one curious person's questions about Paleolithic nutrition and
> she quickly recognized that there are not enough Paleo foods to feed the
> world's population. That recognition so discouraged her that she ceased
> asking questions about the subject (or perhaps she just used it as an excuse
> to not have to give up her favorite modern foods, or maybe it was a bit of
> both). I think that a wiser course is to eat healthfully and try to come up
> with approaches that will enable the world to gradually move back toward a
> Paleo diet and lifestyle--the last fully renewable, biodegradable and
> environmentally harmonious human lifestyle.
>
True that there isn't enough paleo food to feed the world's population a
"paleo" diet if we could force everyone to do what we want. I don't
want such a world. I prefer a place where everyone can pursue their one
Life, Liberty, and Happiness as best they see fit as long as they don't
try to use force or fraud on me or other people.
Choosing to TRY to eat paleo is an option everyone has. Whether they
can get anywhere near the variety necessary for a true paleo diet and
want to forage for hours every day is of cource their choice.
Why can't you eat paleo and allow other people to pursue their own life,
liberty, and happiness as they see fit?
Steve
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