We Are All Going To Starve

[Minimalist]

Actually, assuming advances in agricultural technology occur at a rate similar to or greater than the population growth

Er....except that's where global warming comes in.

[Violet]

Actually, assuming advances in agricultural technology occur at a rate similar to or greater than the population growth

Er....except that's where global warming comes in.

Something threatening appears? Adapt and advance.

I honestly don't see how we couldn't largely adapt to global warming. Is there any particular I'm not aware of?

[fr0d0]

There isn't enough water on the planet to support more than 9 billion people... and the worlds population is set to reach 9 billion by 2050 ...both seem to be accepted projections.

http://www.optimumpopulation.org/opt.earth.html
http://www.optimumpopulation.org/opt.more.water.html
(quoted as it's the one David Attenborough is patron of and the one he quoted these figures from recently)

[Rhizomorph13]

Altering a crop through selection is a very different process than the GM process. It is one thing to plant a crop then select out the best of the crop and use their seeds or cross pollinate to increase the chance of beneficial outcomes; it is quite another thing to alter a food through genetic modification. Here is a video that explains some processes they use to genetically modify food:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAP6ZtfP9...re=related

GMOs are created by splicing DNA from organisms like fish or bacteria into the DNA of plants used as food. They first find a beneficial trait from one organism like flounders, which have an ability to resist extremely low temperatures, then they use some method to splice that into the targeted food like tomatos, which are easily damaged by cold. They use either bacteria, electricity, or a gold particle shooting gun to damage the cell wall of the tomato which then allows the carrier bacteria to enter the cell and deposit the DNA sequence they are trying to introduce to the plant.

If you watch the video you will see that the GM process is very different than forced selection or cross-pollination.

My concern is the squirrely results that might happen using any of the methods to implant DNA into food so I try to purchase organic produce whenever possible. I'm not very worried, just a little wary.

Rhizo

[Minimalist]

Actually, assuming advances in agricultural technology occur at a rate similar to or greater than the population growth

Er....except that's where global warming comes in.

Something threatening appears? Adapt and advance.

I honestly don't see how we couldn't largely adapt to global warming. Is there any particular I'm not aware of?

A modest rise in sea level will put much of, say, Bangla Desh under water. One wonders what India will do when 100 million Bangladeshis show up on their doorstep asking for a towel.

http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/potentia...bangladesh

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

A recent and major study has made the conclusion that Britain will suffer a major food crisis by 2050

That would make me 103. I think I might be dead by then.

I recycle and all that shit,and a tank of petrol lasts me a month. However, I'm simply hoping I will be gone (by 30 seconds or 30 years matters not a jot or a tittle) by the time the issues de jure reach the point of severe personal inconvenience EG starving to death ,or dying from heat stroke due to no air conditioning.

Not having any little chips off the old block infesting the planet, I have no concerns about the survival of my genes.

[Tiberius]

That would make me 103. I think I might be dead by then.

Lucky...lol

[Dotard]

Me too. Long dead by then. Don't care. Pass the potatoes.

The geneticly altered potatoes please.

[Sam]

I've always found it strange how some issues are pushed to the front in the media (i.e. GM Crops) which often overshadows a number of similar problems which look set to occur in the not to distant future.

In the case of GM crops; The fact is that we have no idea how altering the DNA of a plant will affect its consumers in the long term, there have been wories that such alterations may introduce other properties to the plant which may not become apparent for decades after implementation. I agree with other posters that this technology needs to extensively vetted by an independant authority before it is used commercially.

There are also a host of other issues to consider, water management, soil management, global warming, declining reserves of various raw materials.

Alot of these issues can be directly related to consumer driven economies where materials and resources are greedily consumed by the few at a larger cost to the many.

Sam

[TheMultiverseTheory]

Start growing your own crops then.