Would the planet be better off if we, as humans...

[El Guaraguao]

grew our own food and used solar power?

Discuss.

 

[nerp]

define better.

 

[Kalmah]

define better.

worse < better < best ?

 

[FoBoT]

are you suggesting that aliens grow all the food? farmers are really aliens? :hmm:

 

[soydios]

grew our own food

no. it's most efficient for food cultivation to be done on mass farms while the rest of us live in cities.

 

[joesmoke]

what about if we, as beavers, did the same thing? wouldnt that be more fun?

 

[FoBoT]

what about if we, as beavers, did the same thing? wouldnt that be more fun?

are you suggesting that beavers grow all the food? farmers are really beavers? :hmm:

 

[fleabag]

I wouldn't force anyone to grow their own food but if people DID cultivate a small garden themselves and didn't use fertilizer and pesticide, then yes it would be much better. But soon as you have people trying to emulate what farmers do, you'd have a much worse situation than you'd have now. One problem with farms is lost food, if people tended a small garden and tried to make sure every plant survived, then you'd effectively increase your yield especially if everyone was equally successful. Farms have great losses because they cover great land, reduce the losses and everyone is better off.

 

[x-alki]

I think they mean Beaver alien farmers. Could be wrong....

 

[MrPickins]

I wouldn't force anyone to grow their own food but if people DID cultivate a small garden themselves and didn't use fertilizer and pesticide, then yes it would be much better. But soon as you have people trying to emulate what farmers do and you'd have a much worse situation than you'd have now. One problem with farms is lost food, if people tended a small garden and tried to make sure every blood survived, then you'd effectively increase your yield especially if everyone was equally successful. Farms have great losses because they cover great land, reduce the losses and everyone is better off.

Do you stay at a Holiday Inn Express every night?

 

[Kalmah]

I wouldn't force anyone to grow their own food but if people DID cultivate a small garden themselves and didn't use fertilizer and pesticide, then yes it would be much better. But soon as you have people trying to emulate what farmers do and you'd have a much worse situation than you'd have now. One problem with farms is lost food, if people tended a small garden and tried to make sure every blood survived, then you'd effectively increase your yield especially if everyone was equally successful. Farms have great losses because they cover great land, reduce the losses and everyone is better off.

Instead of a smaller number of farmers buying bulk fertilizers and pesticides, you'd have billions of people buying smaller amounts of fertilizer and pesticides that are in smaller containers.. creating more waste.. more people on the road to buy said supplies.. more gas and oil consumption..

 

[bunnyfubbles]

the planet doesn't give a shit about our insignificant presence

 

[Mo0o]

Better for humans in the long run. The planet could not care less

 

[FoBoT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug

Borlaug considers that genetic manipulation of organisms (GMO) is the way to feed the people in the world. According to him it is not sound to fear GMO, "because we've been genetically modifying plants and animals for a long time. Long before we called it science, people were selecting the best breeds."

For his contributions to the world food supply, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Norwegian officials notified his wife in Mexico City at 4:00 am, but Borlaug had already left for the test fields in the Toluca valley, about 40 miles (65 km) west of Mexico City. A chauffeur took her to the fields to inform her husband. According to his daughter, Jeanie Laube, "My mom said, 'You won the Nobel Peace Prize,' and he said, 'No, I haven't', ... It took some convincing ... He thought the whole thing was a hoax".[10] He was awarded the prize on December 10. In his Nobel Lecture the following day, he speculated on his award: "When the Nobel Peace Prize Committee designated me the recipient of the 1970 award for my contribution to the 'green revolution', they were in effect, I believe, selecting an individual to symbolize the vital role of agriculture and food production in a world that is hungry, both for bread and for peace".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMO

To date the broadest application of GMO technology is patent-protected food crops which are resistant to commercial herbicides or are able to produce pesticidal proteins from within the plant, or stacked trait seeds, which do both. The largest share of the GMO crops planted globally are owned by Monsanto Company, according to the company. In 2007, Monsanto&#8217;s trait technologies were planted on 246 million acres (1,000,000 km2) throughout the world, a growth of 13 percent from 2006.
In the corn market, Monsanto&#8217;s triple-stack corn &#8211; which combines Roundup Ready 2 weed control technology with YieldGard Corn Borer and YieldGard Rootworm insect control &#8211; is the market leader in the United States. U.S. corn farmers planted more than 17 million acres (69,000 km2) of triple-stack corn in 2007, and it is estimated the product could be planted on 45 million to 50 million acres (200,000 km2) by 2010. In the cotton market, Bollgard II with Roundup Ready Flex was planted on nearly 3 million acres (12,000 km2) of U.S. cotton in 2007.

 

[Cogman]

Instead of a smaller number of farmers buying bulk fertilizers and pesticides, you'd have billions of people buying smaller amounts of fertilizer and pesticides that are in smaller containers.. creating more waste.. more people on the road to buy said supplies.. more gas and oil consumption..

Not to mention more time to harvest the crops, more wasted effort put into grain. Much higher chance of failure due to incompetence.

Less would be stored for future use and winter years, Less would be able to be preserved properly.

Yeah, it is pretty much a lose, lose, situation. Mass production of any industry is always much more efficient then having individuals do it.

As for the solar panels. If aliens beam us all the solar panels we need, and they lasted forever (IE no half life like they now have). Then it would be a good idea. But the pollution to make solar cells, plus the fact that they turn into large amounts e-waste after ~10 years = no deal for me. Solar isn't nearly as green as green peace wants you to believe. (BTW, I do support the idea of electric cars, power efficient lightbulbs, and just about any other energy saving idea. Heck, I would even support solar water heaters. Just not solar electric volt cells.)

 

[dighn]

large scale farming is probably far more efficient than throwing your own food.

solar power: sure, if we had viable tech for it, which we don't.

 

[fleabag]

Not to mention more time to harvest the crops, more wasted effort put into grain. Much higher chance of failure due to incompetence.

Less would be stored for future use and winter years, Less would be able to be preserved properly.

Yeah, it is pretty much a lose, lose, situation. Mass production of any industry is always much more efficient then having individuals do it.

As for the solar panels. If aliens beam us all the solar panels we need, and they lasted forever (IE no half life like they now have). Then it would be a good idea. But the pollution to make solar cells, plus the fact that they turn into large amounts e-waste after ~10 years = no deal for me. Solar isn't nearly as green as green peace wants you to believe. (BTW, I do support the idea of electric cars, power efficient lightbulbs, and just about any other energy saving idea. Heck, I would even support solar water heaters. Just not solar electric volt cells.)

10 years? More like 30 years...

 

[SlitheryDee]

People who suck at farming or simply have a turn of bad luck would resort to raiding the successful farmers to avoid starvation. If you expect the successful farmers to support those who don't make their own food you'd just have restarted the same system we have now. Ultimately many many more people would starve to death or die at the hands of their neighbors.

On the bright side, this would greatly reduce the human population which would probably be good for the world in the sense that you have so vaguely intimated.

 

[destrekor]

Would the planet be better off if we, as humans... didn't exist

ftfy


I agree.

 

[Jadow]

grew our own food and used solar power?

Discuss.

ugh I think we humans do grow our own food? Are there aliens that grow it for us that I don't know about?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

the planet doesn't give a shit about our insignificant presence

You're saying the impact of human civilization is insignificant to the planet? You don't get out much do you?

 

[IGBT]

read the eco-KOOK book, "the earth without us". in that book they discuss the need to purge the earth of all humans. so if your an eco-KOOK, go jump off the roof.

 

[theflyingpig]

What a stupid, foolish idea you have, OP. I'm sure you were sitting around with your friends smoking weed when you thought up this garbage. I wont even get into the reasons why this is a stupid idea, because it makes me angry that someone could possibly be foolish enough to think it's a good idea. Everyone knows this.

 

[El Guaraguao]

What a stupid, foolish idea you have, OP. I'm sure you were sitting around with your friends smoking weed when you thought up this garbage. I wont even get into the reasons why this is a stupid idea, because it makes me angry that someone could possibly be foolish enough to think it's a good idea. Everyone knows this.

I really really really do hate you. I bet if we were to meet in person, I would pop you one in da mouf, for being the kind of person you is.

Because where I come from, if you disagree with the OP, you get jumped.

 

[her209]

Maybe its just me but the freshly picked and killed stuff always tastes better compared to the store bought stuff.