From: Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Date: Thu Dec 02 1999 - 19:23:19 MST
> Pvthur@aol.com wrote: ...allowing our population to grow beyond all
> natural bounds. As we approach the big 10 billion, something has to give...
I propose the thing that must give is our comically inefficient way
we use land. I flew over the US today, New York to Dallas to
San Jose. It was clear and I spent most of my trip looking at the
ground and marvelling, as I often do when I make that ride, at
how *empty* is most of this country. The population is highly
concentrated along rivers. Look at it next time you fly over. There
are huuuuge expanses of open land, with plenty of water, growing things
that are of no direct benefit to humans, such as scrubby non-lumber
trees. The riverbank land is subject to flooding, whereas all that
good sloping land is nearly untouched.
We can transform this planet into a place where 50 billion technologically
advanced humans could live, in great comfort, not overly crowded,
all well fed and cared for, if we would just build smart, and get with
it on developing food production techniques that are more efficient
than the ones we now use. spike
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