He continued, “Industrial agriculture has reached it’s limit. It is beginning to decline, which will accelerate in coming years. There is nothing we can replace it with which would be more intensive for food production. Industrial agriculture is dependent on oil production, and water in areas that do not have water. Right now, much of the world’s food is grown in deserts using water pumped from rivers and aquifers, and using nutrients and fertilizers obtained from fossil fuels.”
“Those rivers and aquifers are depleting rapidly. The glacial sources of the rivers are melting from global warming and not being replenished. The rivers are being polluted by runoff from industrial processes including agriculture, which further harms the soils and the oceans.
“What about genetic modification?”, I asked. “I’ve read that it can be used to grow food in harsh environments, and use less water.”
“Genetic modification is a way to control the farmers and the food supply. The promise of more and better food is just marketing to make it socially acceptable. While genetically modified crops may help to produce more or adapt to climates, they will never have the genetic diversity needed for nutrition or long term survival.”
“Industrial agriculture is the peak of intensive food production. It is also a large part of the global warming problem. It is the reason the earth is so polluted, and why ecosystems are being destroyed. It is the reason we have so many people, and it is on the verge of collapse.”
“Currently, If we used all the arable land to produce food, we could only produce enough food for 2 billion people using sustainable organic farming. However, we cannot use all the arable land, because nature needs at least two thirds of it to sustain the environment we depend on.
“So, we are left with under 1 billion people eating organic food, at the current standard of living. The current standard of living is not good enough for most people, so we have to raise it, which reduces the number of people to under five hundred million to reach a sustainable population.”
At this point my head was spinning, and I was tired. The baby inside me is still tiny, but I can feel the energy draining from me lately. I grabbed a snack, and went to bed. I still had trouble getting to sleep. His talk of global warming and overpopulation makes me wonder what their plan is.
Five hundred million people is so small compared to the current population. To reach that goal, over 7 billion people would have to die. I cannot imagine that is their solution. I cannot imagine how humanity would deal with that many dead people.
Today he is away in meetings. So I am writing down the conversation and cleaning up around here.
Later I will ask him what the solutions are. Part of me does not want to know, but I feel like I must find out. Some part of me knows that my fears are real. I suspect I know what their plan is, but more than anything, I want to be wrong.