<< I have trouble imagining that low input agriculture
will sustain world population without most people
reverting to being agriculturists. (There are
worse fates, I guess). ;-) >>
Quite so. If the present system is unsustainable, then it will collapse.
When it collapses most people will have to grow most of their own
food--just as they have during the entire history of agriculture--for
all but the past 100 years or so.
<< The REAL
question is how do we manage the transition
back to populations being in equilibrium with
the productive capacity of the land, and the
energy provided by the sun? How fast do
we want to get there? >>
Again, true. Except that *we* may not get to choose how quickly we get
there. The transition may not be well-ordered or pretty or free from
suffering.
<<Do you think that the CSA farms could support
themselves as such were it not for cheap personal
transportation, and buyers who are artificially
prosperous due to our unsustainable
N-R resource-based economy?>>
Yes. As the demand grows for wholesome produce, CSA operations can
become more and more truly local; that is, the consumers will be so much
closer to the farm that transport will not be that much of an issue. And
as artificial prosperity is replaced by an economy that is more
reality-based, labor and goods can be exchanged for food. Again, the
transition will not be pretty or suffering-free.
Woody Wodraska
woodyw@juno.com
"There is no scarcity abiding in Nature.
Any scarcity we see is our own doing."