this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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Science Memes

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shrimp is bugs (mander.xyz)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I draw the line at "overpopulated" when our resource consumption is unsustainable to the point where we are becoming the sole consumer of the planet.

It's commonly stated that we would need 2 planets the same size to sustain our current population in a way that doesn't result in eventual collapse.

We've cleared vast land areas and scoured the sea of fish in our quest for calories. Eating bugs will not be the solution that makes us sustainable.

It's been proven our population increases every time we increase our carrying capacity, such as through the invention of nitrogen fertilizer, mechanized agriculture etc. And there has never been a time that there were not people starving somewhere.

If we carry on this path we will be eating bugs and people will still be starving while ecosystems continue to collapse. It sounds like there is no net gain, IMO.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

It's almost all about resource allocation. We can easily support a much larger population, but we have so much waste.

If we carry on this path we will be eating bugs and people will still be starving while ecosystems continue to collapse. It sounds like there is no net gain, IMO.

Yeah, I don't get this. The bad thing in this sentence seems to be emphasizing the eating of bugs. I could write the same sentence and say corn instead. I still haven't seen a reason of why eating bugs is a bad thing, besides you just thinking it's gross. I eat raw oysters. Gross is relative, not intrinsic.

The carrying capacity of Earth is based on how efficiently we use resources. We could feed everyone on earth today if we didn't have waste, and we aren't even using all the arable land that's available, let alone using it efficiently. Farming bugs would easily multiply our efficiency.

I can only see that as a good thing. More people means more ideas. More ideas mean more innovations and things that could move us forward. I see Humans, assuming we survive the next century or so, as a multi-planet species. If we can get to the point that life as we know it isn't stuck to one rock I see that as a good thing to seek. If we have more innovations, that can only speed up that process and increase the chance we make it.