I have seen the research that was, and is still being done on food sources.
I was in the lucky position to have a father very high up in the MAFF (as it was then),
Ministry of Food, and Fisheries. Not only after the second world war was the imperative
need for excelled food production needed, but also in the advent of a third world war. In
which case for obvious reasons, under the old guidelines the MAFF became the second
most important ministry after defence, even more important than the home office. As a
result of this, partially envisioning large areas of the country devastated by nuclear fallout,
they worked on a emergency food system, using algae. Now it wouldn't be very great to
eat, and make for a boring diet, but they they managed to get 100 times the food yeild using
algae tanks, than compared to the nearest equivalent.
Not only that, but algae could be grown offshore, in near unlimited farming capacity. And
that is with technology around ten years ago. The appropriate utilisation of the sea area for
food production would enable the population to increase some 100 fold before there was any
serious problems, and if the majority of food production was shipped off shore, we would have
more space than we currently do, even with the additional population.
Not only that but hopefully we are only a few generations from establishing off planet colonies,
and habitation, which will cool the ever increasing population pressure. And lets face it for all
practicable purposes for the imminent future space is infinite, a near infinite amount of stuff,
particularly large dead rocks that we can crawl over and spread life out to.
I also know as a student of eschatology (the study of the end of the world), that every generation
has predicted doom and gloom, that there would be too many people, that london would drown in
its own sewage (that was a good one!!!), that we need to exterminate the unfit people to give more
resources for the "well" people etc etc. And guess what folks, it hasn't happened yet, and I will
bet any money you like it won't happen in the foreseeable future either.
That doesn't mean that the quality of life isn't being eroded, or that it won't change in bizarre and hithertoo
fanatasical ways, but it isn't a result of there not being enough..... it is a simple mismanagement, ignorance
that causes so much continued suffering. But it seems far easier to blame physical shortages than admit
there is something wrong with our culture, and way of life, and be brave enough to go, excuse there is
another way of doing things. And I don't mean living like luddites in yogurt weaving communities, even if that
is a fantasy of mine, well minus the yogurt, the weaving and the luddite bit.