Food and the land it takes to produce it is a subject I’m only going to talk briefly about. Although it’s incredibly essential to understanding our situation, it’s a huge topic and I want this blog to focus on economics and population. Those inclined can find massive amounts of information about land use, land degradation and food production easily.

The little information I give here is only to emphasize how we must not be complacent and realize we are little different from the unknown number of past human civilizations that have disappeared because of the overuse of the Earth’s capacity to provide. In fact, the only difference between us and all of them is we’ve had a lot longer to develop ways of not being confined by nature. But finite is finite and no amount of honing technology will allow us to exceed the limit of what the Earth can provide once it’s soils become morbidly unhealthy.

To briefly make my point, below is a chart showing how much food the average person consumes in a number of countries, chosen to show the variation and inequity from place to place, as well as an average total for all countries per year. There is then a second chart showing the amount of food consumed by all humans now on the planet, in TRILLIONS of Kilos, and also how much food would be consumed when the population rises to 8.5 BILLION.

As you’re taking these numbers in, give a thought to what we discussed a few pages ago regarding how many humans we really need on the planet. Perhaps you can pick a population number that you think could allow our species to live in a healthy fashion in perpetuity and then multiply it by the existing average consumption number (682.5 Kilos). Big difference, eh?

And remember, the savings isn’t really just about food. It’s actually about saving the land needed to grow it, the number of animals and plants in the wild because we don’t need to steal their territory, as well as the micro-biological health and diversity in the land which keeps the planet healthy over the long run.