Here is an interesting article on the potentially harmful effects of a well-intentioned idea to help look after the earth - biofuels.
And here is an article by Jared Diamond, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel. He wants to convince you about another one of those things that is helping to destroy not the world, but the folks like us who live in it - agriculture.
Save the world. And yourself!
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Hey, I'm all for a good academic romp in the hay but I'm not much for this agriculture badmouthing business. I hear it more often than you'd think. Not to say that there aren't problems in how it's often carried out (like everything else)...but are we going back to hunting and gathering? I'd say no..so we better stop trying to sound smart hypothesizing about this and figure out a way to make what we've got work.
Ok, you and the rest of the world can go ahead and do that. As for me, though, my financial support is no longer going to agriculture. Sure, I might owe my existence to it, but no more than that. My decision won't solve anybody else's problem.
Those are interesting articles. I haven't let the agriculture one sit long enough to form an opinion; however, he does raise some good points.
So when you say your financial support is no longer going to agriculture - how do you mean? What changes are you going to make?
I just mean I'm not eating grains anymore. That's about it. As long as pizza and beer don't count as grains on friday night, that is.
I didn't really realize when I put those articles up that they were both pretty anti-agriculture. Luckily, I can live with that. With respect to biofuels, it was more of an interesting counter-point, since I definitely think they are a step in the right direction (better renewable, now it just has to be made more efficient).
As for eating it, however, I think I am more inclined to agree with that article. Of course, if everyone decided to give it up, people would starve and die for lack of food production in the world. Maybe that says something about overpopulation, but anyway, me changing won't change the world too much.
Doesn't your hunter-gatherer diet still rely on modern agriculture?
I would say that there are two issues here: The "system" of agriculture, which is what has lead to the growth of big cities, mass starvation, etc; and the "nutrition" of agriculture, which leaves people full of calories but devoid of nutrients.
My diet discourages both. It in fact encourages that people eat fish, wild game, and fresh fruits and vegetables. That answers the "system" and "nutrition" problems. However, in order that it may be practical for people who don't have access to such food, "nutrition" takes priority. It allows food from what would be considered agricultural sources, while trying to mimic the nutritional content of the foods previously listed. This means pasture-fed beef, breast of free-range chickens, etc. Barring that, getting as close to that nutritional content as possible is the goal.
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