Conserve To Greatness---Energy Resource Efficiency and The Future (4 of 5) FOOD
Conserve To Greatness---Energy Resource Efficiency and The Future (4 of 5)
FOOD
Shortly after the Second World War, thousands of Japanese prisoners were hungry nearly to starvation. It was not that their American captors had deliberately deprived them, only that they had received wheat instead of rice.
This illustrates an important facet of human behavior. Unless constrained in a prison camp, people resist new eating habits. Thus, it is seems difficult to use the many efficient options available. Yet, progress eventually comes.
In Europe, potatoes were only fed to livestock for some decades before an eccentric booster (who had been fed potatoes as a prisoner of war) gave the French queen a bouquet of potato flowers. In America, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous until in the early 1800s a maniacal gardener posted notices and then astonished a crowd by publicly eating a tomato.
Conversely, people eat too much of some things. Aliens from space surveying Earth might conclude that the 1.2 billion head of cattle were the dominant species. Grain-fed cattle are an inefficient source of animal protein source compared to chickens and some other types of stock. In use of edible grains, hog raising is worse yet because the hogs are similar to people and cannot graze at all on grass.
All livestock feeding is inefficient compared to production of vegetable proteins. A general rule of thumb is that livestock consumes three to seven pounds of grain for every pound of meat produced. Grain consumption for meat production largely accounts for the per capita 2,000 pounds of grain used by Americans compared to 400 pounds average in the developing world (Ford, p. 29).
For use by the human body, meat is a rich wondrous food that should only be taken in moderation. Through eons of hungry evolution, the human body developed a craving for meat, fat, and sugar. Then, civilization made large quantities of these things available. Eating excessive meat and associated fat increases strokes and heart attacks. Along with sugars, they contribute to obesity and diabetes. For optimum health, much of the present meat in the diets of developed countries should be replaced by foods containing grains and legumes.
There are more sources of protein available than meat. Throughout the less-affluent world, legumes provide proteins to balance those missing in grains. The Mexican staple is beans and corn. In the Middle East, chick peas and wheat serves. Pakistanis use lentils or other beans with grain. (Ford, p. 80)
More exotic and efficient food sources can be tapped if needed. One scientist in the 1970s estimated that protein extracted from alfalfa grown in the area the size of Texas could supply the world's needs for protein. Furthermore, protein could be extracted from many other plants including beet tops, potato vines, and water hyacinths. (Ford, Ch. 6)
That fits with another potential advance in efficiency, breaking the woody bonds of lignin and cellulose to produce sugars. Experiments in progress have used sugars to grow plant portions for vanilla, orange juice, and cotton fibers. Growing only the useful end item would eliminate the need for the rest of the crop plant and the special care during yearly growing season. Ultimately, it might be possible to harvest undifferentiated trees and brush for processing into food and fiber products. Such a change has been likened to the shift from hunter-gatherer societies to agriculture. (W. Anderson)
A possible variation is using the sugar to culture single-celled creatures to produce protein. Single-celled protein has been produced commercially in Europe on a factory scale. (Ford, Ch. 9)
An efficient variant would be to extract the valuable leafy protein and then process the remaining woody material. Such hybrid systems might also extend to the plains.
The Land Institute in Kansas has taken the approach that a natural praire is a self-regulating assortment of species that is more productive than conventional agriculture, requires fewer labor and chemical inputs, and is less prone to pest attack (Eisenberg). Processing of prairie plant matter would be simpler than the Land Institute's attempt to breed harvestability into many plant species.
In addition, a number of aquatic plants are available for food. Some species of duckweeds are eaten as greens in Southeast Asia, and these plants could provide 60 times the protein per acre as soy beans (Ford, p. 160). The previously mentioned water hyacinth is also an excellent protein source when excess cellulose has been removed.
A variety of oceanic plants has been grown commercially in the orient for decades (Bardach et al., Ch. 42; Madlener). The culturing potential of 71% of the planet's surface has barely been touched.
The major use of the oceans to date, abuse actually, has been recent fishing activities. "Modern fishing" is simply primitive hunting with high technology, buffalo hunters with machine guns. A prime species is hunted to commercial extinction, and then a formerly trash fish is promoted to catch fish. Actual tending of stocks and harvesting has the same potential for increased production as the shift from hunting to farming on land.
In short, there need be no hunger on Earth. Efficiently used, the planet's resources can easily feed several times the present population.
FOOD
Shortly after the Second World War, thousands of Japanese prisoners were hungry nearly to starvation. It was not that their American captors had deliberately deprived them, only that they had received wheat instead of rice.
This illustrates an important facet of human behavior. Unless constrained in a prison camp, people resist new eating habits. Thus, it is seems difficult to use the many efficient options available. Yet, progress eventually comes.
In Europe, potatoes were only fed to livestock for some decades before an eccentric booster (who had been fed potatoes as a prisoner of war) gave the French queen a bouquet of potato flowers. In America, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous until in the early 1800s a maniacal gardener posted notices and then astonished a crowd by publicly eating a tomato.
Conversely, people eat too much of some things. Aliens from space surveying Earth might conclude that the 1.2 billion head of cattle were the dominant species. Grain-fed cattle are an inefficient source of animal protein source compared to chickens and some other types of stock. In use of edible grains, hog raising is worse yet because the hogs are similar to people and cannot graze at all on grass.
All livestock feeding is inefficient compared to production of vegetable proteins. A general rule of thumb is that livestock consumes three to seven pounds of grain for every pound of meat produced. Grain consumption for meat production largely accounts for the per capita 2,000 pounds of grain used by Americans compared to 400 pounds average in the developing world (Ford, p. 29).
For use by the human body, meat is a rich wondrous food that should only be taken in moderation. Through eons of hungry evolution, the human body developed a craving for meat, fat, and sugar. Then, civilization made large quantities of these things available. Eating excessive meat and associated fat increases strokes and heart attacks. Along with sugars, they contribute to obesity and diabetes. For optimum health, much of the present meat in the diets of developed countries should be replaced by foods containing grains and legumes.
There are more sources of protein available than meat. Throughout the less-affluent world, legumes provide proteins to balance those missing in grains. The Mexican staple is beans and corn. In the Middle East, chick peas and wheat serves. Pakistanis use lentils or other beans with grain. (Ford, p. 80)
More exotic and efficient food sources can be tapped if needed. One scientist in the 1970s estimated that protein extracted from alfalfa grown in the area the size of Texas could supply the world's needs for protein. Furthermore, protein could be extracted from many other plants including beet tops, potato vines, and water hyacinths. (Ford, Ch. 6)
That fits with another potential advance in efficiency, breaking the woody bonds of lignin and cellulose to produce sugars. Experiments in progress have used sugars to grow plant portions for vanilla, orange juice, and cotton fibers. Growing only the useful end item would eliminate the need for the rest of the crop plant and the special care during yearly growing season. Ultimately, it might be possible to harvest undifferentiated trees and brush for processing into food and fiber products. Such a change has been likened to the shift from hunter-gatherer societies to agriculture. (W. Anderson)
A possible variation is using the sugar to culture single-celled creatures to produce protein. Single-celled protein has been produced commercially in Europe on a factory scale. (Ford, Ch. 9)
An efficient variant would be to extract the valuable leafy protein and then process the remaining woody material. Such hybrid systems might also extend to the plains.
The Land Institute in Kansas has taken the approach that a natural praire is a self-regulating assortment of species that is more productive than conventional agriculture, requires fewer labor and chemical inputs, and is less prone to pest attack (Eisenberg). Processing of prairie plant matter would be simpler than the Land Institute's attempt to breed harvestability into many plant species.
In addition, a number of aquatic plants are available for food. Some species of duckweeds are eaten as greens in Southeast Asia, and these plants could provide 60 times the protein per acre as soy beans (Ford, p. 160). The previously mentioned water hyacinth is also an excellent protein source when excess cellulose has been removed.
A variety of oceanic plants has been grown commercially in the orient for decades (Bardach et al., Ch. 42; Madlener). The culturing potential of 71% of the planet's surface has barely been touched.
The major use of the oceans to date, abuse actually, has been recent fishing activities. "Modern fishing" is simply primitive hunting with high technology, buffalo hunters with machine guns. A prime species is hunted to commercial extinction, and then a formerly trash fish is promoted to catch fish. Actual tending of stocks and harvesting has the same potential for increased production as the shift from hunting to farming on land.
In short, there need be no hunger on Earth. Efficiently used, the planet's resources can easily feed several times the present population.
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