Howdy,
All too often those with plenty to eat and drink can't understand that there isn't enough for everyone. It follows along the same mentality of Marie Antoinette as she expounded on the lack of bread for the masses and declared, "Let them eat cake."
Consider that in the U.S. the Colorado river which supplies water to several states is now totally consumed. The river never reaches the ocean.
The problem of overpopulation has nothing whatever to do with the number of square miles of land on earth. You might just as well post the number of rubber times made each year since neither number is relavant.
Exactly. Which was my point. I actually re-did the calculations on the scrap of paper and the number comes out at around 12 million acres usable, I was just using it to show that if land acres was the determining factor, there would already be food shortages. Ofcourse everyone could be fed no problem at this point in time. I'd say its got more to with land management. If you have got a huge collective farm over several hundred miles, that is going to feed more people than the same area of farms but spread out, because then you don't have to worry about transport logistics etc, can employ less people.
Lack of arable land is a problem, and it will continue to grow as one as deserts grow, but I think its more to do with land management, over-use of resourmces and exploiting trade agreements.
If we are to assume land area as a limiting factor, then like I have shown, we are in trouble. But I am confident, as GM foods become more accepted (As they have to be) we will be able to get more food per acre. So therefore it isn't because technology will always find ways of increasing output. It is the entire system of how we gather food we have to change
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