Is our food production sustainable?

Damocles

Damocles

Accedo!
Staff member
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...deo-documentary.aspx?e_cid=20120226_SNL_Art_1

The "faster, bigger, cheaper" approach to food is slowly draining dry our planet's resources and compromising your health.

The Earth's soil is depleting at more than 13 percent the rate it can be replaced.

The documentary "FRESH" celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.

The film demonstrates how we can collectively transform the current "industrial agricultural paradigm" into a healthier, more sustainable way of feeding the world, while restoring the health of our ailing planet.

I hope you will set aside the time to watch it, as it will be time well spent.

We have already lost 75 percent of the world's crop varieties over the last century.

Over the past 10 years, we've had 100 million tons of herbicides dumped onto our crops, polluting our soil and streams.

The agriculture industry now tries to convince us that housing 110,000 to more than one million chickens or 20,000 hogs in a warehouse is a necessary practice to feed the masses.

More at link..
 
Damocles said:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...deo-documentary.aspx?e_cid=20120226_SNL_Art_1

The "faster, bigger, cheaper" approach to food is slowly draining dry our planet's resources and compromising your health.

The Earth's soil is depleting at more than 13 percent the rate it can be replaced.

The documentary "FRESH" celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.

The film demonstrates how we can collectively transform the current "industrial agricultural paradigm" into a healthier, more sustainable way of feeding the world, while restoring the health of our ailing planet.

I hope you will set aside the time to watch it, as it will be time well spent.

We have already lost 75 percent of the world's crop varieties over the last century.

Over the past 10 years, we've had 100 million tons of herbicides dumped onto our crops, polluting our soil and streams.

The agriculture industry now tries to convince us that housing 110,000 to more than one million chickens or 20,000 hogs in a warehouse is a necessary practice to feed the masses.

More at link..
Click to expand...

It is why I am constantly telling people to eat vegetarian and eat less. I have learned a little of the right foods goes a long way.
 
Rana said:
It is why I am constantly telling people to eat vegetarian and eat less. I have learned a little of the right foods goes a long way.
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At least one vegetarian meal a week and more if you are able, thought I better clarify, I still enjoy meat, but I have cut back on beef and my portions are smaller. I eat more fruits and vegetables these days.
 
Damocles said:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...deo-documentary.aspx?e_cid=20120226_SNL_Art_1

The "faster, bigger, cheaper" approach to food is slowly draining dry our planet's resources and compromising your health.

The Earth's soil is depleting at more than 13 percent the rate it can be replaced.

The documentary "FRESH" celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.

The film demonstrates how we can collectively transform the current "industrial agricultural paradigm" into a healthier, more sustainable way of feeding the world, while restoring the health of our ailing planet.

I hope you will set aside the time to watch it, as it will be time well spent.

We have already lost 75 percent of the world's crop varieties over the last century.

Over the past 10 years, we've had 100 million tons of herbicides dumped onto our crops, polluting our soil and streams.

The agriculture industry now tries to convince us that housing 110,000 to more than one million chickens or 20,000 hogs in a warehouse is a necessary practice to feed the masses.

More at link..
Click to expand...
I have seen Fresh. It does an excellent job of pointing out the inheret risk of monocultures and how industrialized agriculture reliance on monocultures that depend upon large quantities of expensive chemicals produces razor thin margins for farmers and is proving difficult to sustain economically. It was interesting the experiment they did with potato farmers in Idaho. One potato farmer ran a massive operation with huge tracts of land to grow russet potatos and only russet potatos. The farmer was invested heavily in chemicals to produce high yeilds and was heavily invested in specialized heavy machinery to reduce labor costs.

The problem was that the chemicals and machinery ties the farmer to one crop. The russet potato, with little flexibilty. The farmer eschewed diversifying into specialty crops as the conventional wisdom was that labor costs were far to high. However, his profits were tied into the commondity markets for one commodity and if prices for russet potatos declined. This farmers business would lose substantial money.

Another farmer, by contrast, was focused on diversity, he grew a very large variety of potatos for the restraunt and gourmet markets. Because he was using so many diverse breeds he was not nearly as dependend on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and used very little of them. Nor was he nearly as invested in the heavy machinery. It was true that his labor costs were higher but then again so were the margins for the sale of his products and if one product declined in the market it was very easy to switch to another product. The end result was that the diversified farmer made higher profits will less land, equipment and higher labor costs.
 
SmarterThanYou said:
i'm thinking that you are the actual idiot. post your premise that government makes food cheaper and more plentiful.
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What a typical stupid fucking libertarian response. The entire fucking world is black and white, either agree or disagree with your fanatical ideology. Libertarianism inevitably leads to fascism - all of the Nazi's and Fascists, after WWII, fled to right-wing liberal IE libertarian parties. Libertarianism IS a form of fascism. The premise of fascism is that there is some uber-elite in society that is so far above the rest of us that they totally deserve 90% of the wealth in society, even though they contribute nothing to the creation of it, and all of the rest of us are just useless proles who contribute nothing and are merely clinging on to these noble souls who create all and cling to them and weigh them down.

And is the premise of libertarianism any different? Is libertarianism anything different than a tumor telling the heart that, without the work of the tumor, the heart would be useless? What we need to do is cut off the tumor, let it wither and die, and show it that the body is just fine without it, thankyou very much. Libertarianism is an evil, deranged, poisonous ideology that inevitably leads to the utter destruction of freedom and the enslavement of society to tyrants. I will not respond to your question because you are unworthy of a response.

You are a robber. You are a thief. The only freedom you believe in is the freedom of theft.
 
Your ideology has nothing at all to do with 18th century liberalism. The liberals of the 18th century would tar and feather you for the tyrants and fascists that you are. It is truly nothing but an invention of the social darwinists of the 1900's, yet another bullshit fanatical ideology that emerged around that time. What would an Austrian doctor tell a cancer patient? "The Cancer is good for you, because it will kill the weaker cells, leaving you with only the strongest cells to survive on!"

The government is merely another part of nature. It has always been here. It is here for a reason. If it were useless, we would have done away with it. You are not wiser than history. You are not wiser than nature, the nature that has produced the government. You are a fool. We need to tell you the same thing that we told the social Darwinists and the eugenicists: nature doesn't need your fucking help!
 
General Sherman said:
What a typical stupid fucking libertarian response. The entire fucking world is black and white, either agree or disagree with your fanatical ideology. Libertarianism inevitably leads to fascism - all of the Nazi's and Fascists, after WWII, fled to right-wing liberal IE libertarian parties. Libertarianism IS a form of fascism. The premise of fascism is that there is some uber-elite in society that is so far above the rest of us that they totally deserve 90% of the wealth in society, even though they contribute nothing to the creation of it, and all of the rest of us are just useless proles who contribute nothing and are merely clinging on to these noble souls who create all and cling to them and weigh them down.

And is the premise of libertarianism any different? Is libertarianism anything different than a tumor telling the heart that, without the work of the tumor, the heart would be useless? What we need to do is cut off the tumor, let it wither and die, and show it that the body is just fine without it, thankyou very much. Libertarianism is an evil, deranged, poisonous ideology that inevitably leads to the utter destruction of freedom and the enslavement of society to tyrants. I will not respond to your question because you are unworthy of a response.

You are a robber. You are a thief. The only freedom you believe in is the freedom of theft.
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Wow, lol. Somebody doesn't know anything at all about Libertarianism. Show me one example of a Libertarian government that went "fascist". Actually, show me an example of true Libertarian government anywhere.

I would expect better of you Watermark, but then you are Watermark.

Hitler, Mussolini, Ghengis Khan, Stalin, Ho Chi Min... None of these were Libertarians, nor did they rise out of what was previously Libertarian. You, quite literally, just take your conclusion (that Libertarian is bad) and then apply it emotively over everything, apply liberally and you get a Watermark post.

It literally has no basis at all in any sort of reality that has ever existed, anywhere, at all.
 
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