Crisis or not?

[Colin Miles]

What do we make of this?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/9997719/Must-Britain-now-Dig-for-Survival.html

[peter]

Accurate I think, just a matter of when.

There are hardly any problems facing the human race that could not be solved by there being fewer humans.

[FelixLeiter]

There's plenty of set-aside to plough up before we have to turn over our lawns.

But yes, too many folk.

[vegpatchmum]

Well it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. An increased population together with a decrease in land available to grow food due, in no small part to continued development of arable land and selling of garden space to make a quick buck, could only ever lead down one road and it's finally dawning on people just where that road is leading.

How to resolve this issue is the question now but it will be a brave states man/woman who stands up and states the obvious - population control. Until we begin to control our birth rates, then we will never be able to reclaim the amount of land that will be needed to feed the existing population.

VPM
x

[glallotments]

At one time birth's were controlled a little by nature but now with IVF and surrogacy that bit of control has been taken out of the system!

[alan refail]

A rather shallow bit of London/middle-class-centred journalism. The initial reference to plum clafoutis just about sets the context. There are thousands of acres of land round here used only for sheep grazing, and, no, they're not all mountains by any means. But I'd defy any foolhardy soul to suggest to our Welsh farmers that they should grow fruit and vegetables

Of course there are too many people in the world, but has anyone yet come up with a satisfactory method of control which respects individuals? I don't think one could ever exist.

[Motherwoman]

During the last Foot and Mouth crisis my other half wrote to our MP about the lack of controls on food imports and how we both felt that Britain was losing control of being able to feed its people. The letter was passed on to whichever dept was in control of food at the time and we had a communication back which said 'food security was not a priority...' Well that's been obvious with the horsemeat crisis. A lot of the world's food that we used to import is now diverting to large economies like China, and Britain has got to get its act together to ensure we're all fed.

I'm a great believer in encouraging people to grow their own as lots of small plots add up to a large amount of food with all the added health benefits.

MW

[Shallot Man]

When one sees film on the box of tons of food being dumped. Maybe we could start there.

[Motherwoman]

Absolutely Shallotman!!

Seeing a now ex-sister-in-law drain a pan of potatoes, look at it and tip 3 or 4 straight in the bin horrified me. My face must have been a picture as she said 'There were too many, they only go to waste anyway.' I was taught to use everything by my mother and grandmothers, I even stock bones twice... Occasionally I have some veg/fruit waste and it either goes down the chickens or into the compost bin. I'd like to keep a pig...

MW

[JohnN]

Alan Refail: "Of course there are too many people in the world, but has anyone yet come up with a satisfactory method of control which respects individuals? I don't think one could ever exist."

There are lots of regulations, laws and restrictions in all countries to prevent individuals ruining the lives of others. Don't you think behaviour that threatens the existence of civilisation is worth a few more restrictions?

[alan refail]

Alan Refail: "Of course there are too many people in the world, but has anyone yet come up with a satisfactory method of control which respects individuals? I don't think one could ever exist."

There are lots of regulations, laws and restrictions in all countries to prevent individuals ruining the lives of others. Don't you think behaviour that threatens the existence of civilisation is worth a few more restrictions?

Indeed I do, but what and how?

[Motherwoman]

Limiting couples to one child in China led to many baby girls being abandoned. It might help if all countries spent money on food production and education rather than huge weapons programs, but that's just me being an idealist.

[JohnN]

Alan:
Perhaps a simple start would be for it to be illegal for any organisation to encourage births by telling people they are breaking holy writ by using birth control. Let people decide for themselves and perhaps a lot more would decide on fewer children. Then encourage birth control, especially in those countries where over-population is a serious famine problem. This is being done, I believe, but not enough.
I accept it's difficult, but the alternatives are mass starvation or bloody conflict, like rats on an island.

[JohnN]

Alan
Further thought ... the Western world sends billions or pounds/dollars in aid to the third world every year. How about restricting it to those communities that can show they are treating population control seriously?

[Johnboy]

Hi JohnN,
When the world can rid the diseases that befall third world countries and there is no risk of child mortality only then will populations begin to fall.
If couples are assured of the longevity of their children only then will they consider birth control.
The world is over populated but where would you begin to start trying to bring it down?
To just say the world is overpopulated is simple stating the "bleeding obvious!"
We already have the over population and they must be fed as best as we possibly can. In the meantime education will help but the churches have been in Africa for best part of 200 years and have sadly failed the Africans because there are still too many uneducated people.
This is part and parcel of a much wider problem of which population is only a small part.
JB.