Food

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Revision as of 18:10, 24 August 2022 by Elie (talk | contribs) (→‎Problems)

The world currently struggles to feed everyone sustainably. But this doesn't have to be the case. There are enough resources to feed our growing population - if resources are used efficiently & ethically.

Problems

Current food-related problems include:

  • Hunger & malnutrition
    • Nearly 900 million people lack calories or protein (1 in 9 people worldwide).
    • Even more people lack vitamins & minerals, even if they get enough calories & protein.
  • Environmental impact
  • Animal cruelty
    • Particularly bad in factory farms, which are the source of most animal products.


These problems are magnified by inefficiency:

Solutions

Even without any fundamental changes to food production, we can still end hunger and habitat loss by reducing any of the inefficiencies in the diagram above. What this means in practice:


Other things that would help:

Things that could help in the future:

Things that probably won't help:

Q&A

Unanswered

How much animal protein could be produced from pasture only, if no crops were ever fed to animals?

How much CO2 is released for every km^2 of deforestation?
How much CO2 is released for every km^2 of destroyed grasslands?

How much carbon does every km^2 of newly-grown forest sequester per year?
How much carbon does every km^2 of newly-grown grasslands sequester per year?

Bottom line

All 8 billion people could be well-fed & healthy, without destroying the planet, and without anywhere near as much harm to animals. But all of this requires both personal changes and systemic changes.