How can we feed the world without destroying the planet?

A good place to start would be to repeal the use of bio-engineered seeds that contain Round-Up. These capitalistic pebbles have assisted in the decline of bees world wide.

Try to refrain yourself from being a slave to scientific inventions.

localization and diversification...5 acres of permacultured bio organics can grow way more and much healthier food than our current practices of industrialized agriculture

I've been reporting on that here for months in the Sustainable Agriculture Group regarding agroecology, permaculture, agroforestry, soil carbon sequestration, climate change and getting off the fossil fuel GMO monoculture model we are on now...

http://current.com/groups/sustainable-agriculture/.

http://current.com/technology/93434074_changing-our-global-approach-to-farming-i...

Farmers can be frontline warriors in the fight against climate change. Permaculture and sustainable farming practices can be the solution to peak oil. The answers are not hard and the reward of a healthier economy, environment and people makes this a no brainer. The USDA needs to get into the 21st Century. It isn't about continuing the water intensive, fossil fuel intensive, industrial agriculture GMO status quo. It is about supporting the sustainable agricultural sciences of agroecology, permaculture, biodynamics and the holistic methods that work in harmony with the Earth to preserve our resources in a world where climate change, increasing population and overconsumption have now brought us to the tipping point. This IS the defining issue of our survival and one that does not get anywhere near the attention it deserves.

Global warming/climate change/biodistress is already affecting agriculture greatly and this industrial system that touts itself as our savior is failing us. I think many underestimate the power and ability of agroecology on a mass scale especially regarding yield and the effects giving food production back to farmers especially in developing countries can accomplish. And with the billions of people in this country alone who are in need of a job, agriculture is actually one job that could truly change the world. No one said it would be easy to accomplish, especially with the corporate chokehold on our seeds, but we as a species now have a choice to make. Either we start becoming part of the solution, stop our whining about not being able to do this or that and work to do it, or the lifestyles we lead and the way we lead them will be our end.

It will become a necessity to get off of this fossil fuel fertilizer monoculture merry-go-round as we continue to toxify this planet risking worldwide famine regardless of whether we grow our food horizontally or vertically. And actually, Manhattan is now one of the top cities for rooftop gardens. But as this article references we are talking about a paradigm global shift in our farming system as a whole. And while I understand that due to population, pollution and our propensity for being wasteful and apathetic about the consequences because we are humans, the day may come when we cannot grow our natural seeds in healthy soil with the real sun and rain falling down on them. I will consider that we truly have failed as a species if that day should ever come.

“We need to dispel this idea that agroecology is a back-breaking, low-yielding process and that we want to go back to grandfather’s agriculture. Actually, agroecology has a lot of science in it and a lot of knowledge,”

With climate changes especially rainfall pattern changes, exceptional droughts, topsoil erosion increasing due to stronger storms and sea level rise,, water scarcity, etc. we will have to rethink the entire global way we grow food and where we grow some foods. Water intensive crops in areas that are now hit with droughts will have to be retooled. Areas with more rain as well. This is something we should have planned for along with planning for migration of people out of areas that become uninhabitable. We have been spoiled to think we can have what we want whenever we want it. So this is not just about a global change in agriculture, but a change within ourselves. Can we change as we have to now? Can we kick our consumptive ways and would we to preserve this planet for the future?

And like the deniers who still plant seeds of doubt about the reality of biodistress whose misinformation we must address, so too do we have to do so in dispelling the myths regarding yield and the ways of farming that fed this world for thousands of years before the birth of Monsanto. Nature can be very giving when you give back to her.

Cannibalism

"How can we feed the world without destroying the planet?"

You mean it is possible to *NOT* feed the world without destroying the planet?

what we do to this planet will repair itself after we're gone, which won't be too long in coming. In the meantime small measures like denying all support for the 3rd world or denying healthcare to the poor as an incentive for them to not reproduce ( "can't feed em don't breed em" ) could alleviate things a little.

sgwhites does very well in the choosing of these things I think. +^d and a high five.

Sure, just. . . .
( ( ( STOP ) ) ) . . .planting fields of NEW people for a bit.

- nothing NEW in this notion.

the 60's counter-culture said ZPG (zero population growth)
when is it going to happen?
when it's too late?

The biggest threat to humanities free food sources are corporations that are trying to monopolize the seed industry through government regulations, by crossbreeding naturally growing crops with patented genetically modified versions and legally forcing farmers to grow only their "brand" of seed. It's absolutely sad that we have let corrupt people take over to the point that we don't even have any control over feeding ourselves, the most basic knowledge mankind has is how to feed their families, but in our modern era of dependence on corporations, we don't even know how to plant a simple garden. It's time to stop bad corporations like this, to ask our government to ease up on unjust policies that hurt farmers and to educate ourselves so we can free ourselves from those who try so hard to keep us ignorant.

I know, grow plants. It's really not that difficult. Seeds are cheap, give them out to everyone with instructions on how to nurture the plants to harvest. No one should starve when all you need for nourishment is a pack of seeds, some water and soil. In areas where soil is poor, we can teach them hydroponic farming, and ways to reuse the water. It should be easy, and not one single person on this planet should die of starvation.