For the past 200 years, ever since Thomas Malthus published hisEssay on the Principle of Population, big thinkers have been wondering whether Earth-dwellers will eventually run out of food. Today, a global group of scientists released a fresh look at the question. They add a different, environmental twist to it. Can we feed the world without destroying the environment? It’s a good question, because agriculture is probably the single most destructive thing that humans do to the earth. Consider: Cropland and pasture now cover 40 percent of our planet’s land surface; farming consumes nearly three-quarters of all the water that humans use for any purpose; farming accounts for a third of all the emissions of greenhouse gases that humans release into the environment. (Those greenhouse emission come from clearing forests or grassland for crops, the emissions of methane from rice paddies, and the conversion of nitrogen fertilizer into nitrous oxide — a powerful greenhouse gas.) […] via NPR
(Source: climateadaptation, via socialuprooting)
