could you feed yourself and family......overpopulation

[elkhound]

would ya? could ya? feed yourself and loved ones? can you produce enough feed for critters?do you have enough ponds,creeks,cisterns,springs, well or whatever for water on all levels of needs?heres a article about world population right now and future growth.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44928812...ews/?GT1=43001

Our biggest problem is not an inability to produce food, but an inability to distribute it. Most of the world's hungriest people cannot afford to pay for the food that is freely available in the open markets and until something changes in their nations are not ever likely to be able to.

Of those left that could pay for the food most all of them have some sort of governmental dysfunction that prevents them from being able to. Corruption, indifference, and just plain old ignorance cause more food problems on this planet than the global ability to produce food does.

[Yldrosie]

The biggest problem is a bunch of people breeding like rabbits that have no conception of reality.

[Pam6]

As a mother of many children...WOW! Just WOW! I find it very offense to be compared to animal with no conception of reality!!

[mpillow]

yes... but I'm considered a thief for stealing from the squirrel....LOL I'd steal his corn and take his stash and take his life if need be....

The place I bought with my parents would support all that it took to defend it...food, water, firewood, pasture, garden area, moose deer trout wild edibles

way off the beaten path....huge house....5 car garage(heated with wood)...root cellar...cheap taxes

[bourbonred]

I think we could. Nobody would eat good for a couple of years until we get better at doing it, I'm sure there would be a big learning curve and crop failures. Of course, we are not taking into account protecting the harvest once one has it. That might prove harder than producing it.

[Sunbee]

Maybe Yldrosie needs to travel some, or at least sit and listen to folks from one of those cultures. Africa--if you can't afford treatment you loose one of every four kids to malaria, one of every four to sickle cell. That's just one parasite and the genetic mutation that protects you from it. There are lots of other things that'll kill your kids. You need at least one son to outlive you--that's your social security. No sons, no one to care for and provide for you in your old age.
If you look at projections of what will happen a little further in the future, assuming the education levels in those areas continue to rise and health care continues to improve, you'll see a projected birth rate decrease. It takes a little longer for population decrease because of increased life expectancies.

[time]

Originally Posted by Pam6

As a mother of many children...WOW! Just WOW! I find it very offense to be compared to animal with no conception of reality!!

Oh, do you have between 14 and 25 children?

If not, you should have read the article before taking offense.

Do you live in a village and are having difficulty feeding 25 children?

If not, you should have read the article before taking offense.

To answer the OP question, yes. With a knife and well bucket, I don't worry much about starving.

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by time

Oh, do you have between 14 and 25 children?

If not, you should have read the article before taking offense.

Do you live in a village and are having difficulty feeding 25 children?

If not, you should have read the article before taking offense.

To answer the OP question, yes. With a knife and well bucket, I don't worry much about starving.

Uh...the guy with the 25 kids has a prosperous farm....maybe you need to read the article better?

"At Ahmed Kasadha's prosperous farm in eastern Uganda, it's a different story.
My father had 25 children — I have only 14 so far, and expect to produce more in the future," says Kasadha, who has two wives. He considers a large family a sign of success and a guarantee of support in his old age."

From what little I know about African farming, it might take that many workers to get the crops in.

I don't think the world is over populated - but certain areas are. Many areas could be put into better production. African countries aren't know for taking care of their people and building infrastructure so they can produce food and distribute for themselves. There are many areas of the world that could be brought into a much higher level of food production - even the USA.

[SquashNut]

And the rest of the world thinks America is at fault for the worlds population.
The rest of the world wants America to share their weilth?
Just because you can support 25 kids doesn't mean you have to.

[Pam6]

Originally Posted by time

Oh, do you have between 14 and 25 children?

If not, you should have read the article before taking offense.

Do you live in a village and are having difficulty feeding 25 children?

If not, you should have read the article before taking offense.

To answer the OP question, yes. With a knife and well bucket, I don't worry much about starving.

Perhaps you should read better! I did not take offense at the ARTICLE! I took offense at Yldrosie's comment!! No where in the article does it say "breeding like rabbits that have no conception of reality".

Having 14 children with his TWO wives is not much different than I with my 6 children and my widowed friend with her 7 children!

[SquashNut]

Is it really about how many kids you can support? What about the carbon foot print every one is so concerned about?

[Pam6]

Ahhh,that is probably one of the benefits to living in Africa....they are not indoctrinated with cocka-mammy things like 'carbon foot print', 'global warming', and 'overpopulation'.

[time]

The food won't be the first to go.

The resources to grow the food will be the first to go.

How much oil does it take to feed 1 billion people? The current 7 billion? add in a few billion more?

She's a 40-year-old mother of eight, with a ninth child due soon. The family homestead in a Burundi village is too small to provide enough food, and three of the children have quit school for lack of money to pay required fees.

If Ahmed Kasadha's had three children, he could feed 22 additional children with his prosperous farm, thus contributing to the world and community.

Having empathy for people is one thing. Enableing them with excuses solves nothing.

Population is a huge problem. A rather simple concept to grasp. I don't think there is an answer to it and don't propose to find one. Not seeing reality and making excuses is definatley not a solution.

If identifieing a problem is offensive, so be it. Read the sticky. Not PC.

[Becka03]

Originally Posted by Pam6

As a mother of many children...WOW! Just WOW! I find it very offense to be compared to animal with no conception of reality!!

I understand that you would read that into the poster's statement- but if you are here on HT and in SEP - you are not in that same category at all!!! ...((hugs))) I wouldn't take it that way

[wagvan]

I will be the first to admit I didn't read the article, (but will later) but anytime the discussion gets to overpopulation and feeding people, it is usually based on Mathusian economics which was proposed by Thomas Malthus. It has been shown false over and over again. It keeps getting brought up from a book written in the 1960s (I can go look up the title, later, its not on the tip of my tongue) that is promoted by Al Gore (yanno, the guy who invented the internet and promoted the whole global warming thing...<eyeroll> Basically it is a bunch of bupkus.

BTW I was an economics, French and PoliSci major in college.

[Cyngbaeld]

I think all the suburban folk should have to rip out their lawns and put in gardens before we start yelling that there are not enough resources to feed everybody.

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by time

.........If Ahmed Kasadha's had three children, he could feed 22 additional children with his prosperous farm, thus contributing to the world and community.

Having empathy for people is one thing. Enableing them with excuses solves nothing..........

Let me see if I can follow your logic. I have six kids. But in your reality, I should have only had 3. Then the govt could have taken more of my money and it would have been distributed to the world and the community rather than being used to raise my wasteful extra 3. And who are the ones in the world and community that need my money? Oh, the folks that can't provide for the kids they have - thus enabling them so the world can have more of them and less of the people that do the providing. Do I have it right?

[SquashNut]

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

I think all the suburban folk should have to rip out their lawns and put in gardens before we start yelling that there are not enough resources to feed everybody.

Good Idea!

[time]

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

Let me see if I can follow your logic. I have six kids. But in your reality, I should have only had 3. Then the govt could have taken more of my money and it would have been distributed to the world and the community rather than being used to raise my wasteful extra 3. And who are the ones in the world and community that need my money? Oh, the folks that can't provide for the kids they have - thus enabling them so the world can have more of them and less of the people that do the providing. Do I have it right?

Nope, but thanks fer trying.

I don't care how many kids folks have. It doesn't subtract from the fact that over population is and will be a problem.

Look to nature. Over population of anything over taxes the resources. As humans we try to fix it in nature when it effects us. Lemmings, mice, rabbits, locusts, whatever. We kill them off if we can.

With people, we do quite the oppisite. We fight disease. We keep people alive longer. Not saying it is good or bad. It just is. But, nature will fix it. We WILL run out of resources. Technology will not make up for it. Gardens will not make up for it.

People will not impose resrictions on themselves. They'd rather get all stiff and defend their decisions than admit there is a problem. When your part of the cause of the problem, admitting there is one becomes quite impossible for most. I also do not beleive restrictions should be imposed on others by myself or others. So, like I said. I do not have the solution. Nature will.

A large percent of the posts on this site have to do with food shortage and food prices. You live in a relatively rich country. You are relatively rich compared to the rest of the world. Yet food prices, look to the peanut butter thread, are a top concern. And not just on this site. Yet, you same people don't see a population problem? Food is already an issue, yet you say there will be plenty? I shake my head when I read this site, smile and say to myself, "Buddy, you better get preped. The preppers can't even see the common truth".