Reproduction and Food

Two things are basic to the world of multi-celled animals; food and reproduction. This includes all animals, from earth worms to humans. Everything else is a complication. In the case of humans, religion, government, industry, sports, movies and music are all luxuries that exist only because humans are able to eat and have sex.

Without those two necessities the existence of an organism ceases. The current crop of homo sapiens, or at least some of them, doesn't seem to recognize this fact. Or maybe they do. The Malthusian element feels that there are, at present, too many humans for the available resources and the addition of more through reproduction is bad and wrong. An expansion of the world's population will not only use up resources but also produce externalities like pollution that will poison the environment for the ideal population of the earth. This is being exacerbated by climate change, AGW, that is heating up the planet, melting the ice caps, causing the rise of the seas and burning up a big portion of rural California.

Reproductive sex is now frowned upon both for its threat to the earth itself and the inconvenience it presents to a little over one half of the human race. The fact that the membership of that species is divided between two very different populations is a continuous insult to post- modern thought.

The food situation is in a similar dilemma. Humans can't live without food but post-moderns point out that there are different kinds of food, some requiring more precious resources than others. Beef, for instance, means water, feed, shelter, veterinarian service and, worst of all, disposal of manure. In fact, all domestic animals produce waste matter which must be removed from the immediate surroundings. This is leading to some strange situations.  The pragmatic and practical Dutch have claimed much of their agricultural kingdom from the sea, earning the admiration of the less challenged. Apparently they have been too successful, their small nation being one of the biggest exporters of food for humans. Ergo the government of the Netherlands intends to make compulsory purchases of farmland and take it out of production. The Dutch grangers are not in favor of this.

It's probably cheaper for the government (made up of omnivorous humans) to buy up farms rather than create a methodology for the safe disposal or transformation of manure. Should, in the near future, it might be necessary to plant a few more pumpkin patches and feed some more pigs, vacant farms could be returned to production. Building giant sewage treatment plants now for millions of hogs and cows would be an expensive project.

There's also the idea promoted by groups like the World Economic Forum that humans change their diets and eliminate meat and some vegetable products from their menus entirely. No doubt that would apply only to the plebs, the elite could still access filet mignon and artichokes. Sea food would also be scrutinized, both for its effect on fish and crustacean populations and the damage it causes to the entire marine environment. If the Dutch plan is deemed effective by the powers that be we may well see similar policies enacted in the near future.