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How America Uses Its Land

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Re: How America Uses Its Land

#41

Post by jdietrich »

mc32 wrote: post #33

If urban (built-up) areas have quadrupled since the 50's, I don't think that pace can continue unabated. Population has roughly doubled since then. It would seem the trend would require denser cities and suburbs, which should not be too difficult given that most metro areas are relatively low density.

The United States has a population density of 86 people per square mile. In Britain it's 704, in the Netherlands it's 1075 and in Singapore it's 20,192. You've got plenty of room.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#42

Post by jmspring »

hirundo wrote: post #30

> More than one-third of U.S. land is used for pasture ... There’s a single, major occupant on all this land: cows. Not here. I live on cow range land, but the cattle are outnumbered by elk. The elk hunting industry here is larger than the cattle industry. Every third local seems to be a hunting guide, and many of those are cow growers too. This seems to me to be a very positive thing that should be encouraged. Inste…

I live in a rural community where within the county and neighboring counties, cattle is a big deal. That said, the cows up here are fat and happy and have space to roam. Compare to the cattle pastures in the central valley where the cows are skinny and kept in small areas with limited space to roam.

One thing that surprised me moving up here, and this is something I didn't realize re: laws around food, availabiliyt of game meat (dear/elk/etc) really is something you have to hunt on your own.

Another interesting tidbit about cattle grazing and national parks - If you ever do the Mohave Road, there used to be a number of ranches that grazed in/along parts of that route. Old water troughs visible, etc. Most of them shut down, one of the few that was allowed to continue had connections to Diane Feinstein and her husband. Water, grazing rights, and land use politics can get pretty damn ugly out west.

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#43

Post by catacombs »

almostApatriot1 wrote: post #34

interesting article but i couldn't get the entire map to fit on my (13 inch) screen no matter how I adjusted the browser. Very annoying.

You should let the reporters know you can't see the image. I'm sure they would appreciate the feedback and fix it right away.

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#44

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

torpfactory wrote: post #3

That graphic at the end is a great way to explain how much area is used for our meat eating habit. Think of all the land which is not being used for... anything else. We are truly ecologically privileged to be able to create such a huge impact in order to eat meat. Incredible.

There are tens of millions of bison that would be grazing that land had they not been wiped out.

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#45

Post by jdietrich »

pathseeker wrote: post #20
torpfactory wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a pretty significant diversion of land from a natural state though. Cattle grazing, thought it isn’t an ecological disaster like dam building, is quite different than leaving the land untouched. Plus, a good portion of the country’s good farmland is diverted to growing feed for those animals. Think of it like: how many acres have been changed from a natural ecosystem to an artificial one for meat eating.

>Cattle grazing, thought it isn’t an ecological disaster like dam building, is quite different than leaving the land untouched. Leaving the land untouched is even more 'ecologically privileged' than using it to make expensive food. >Plus, a good portion of the country’s good farmland is diverted to growing feed for those animals. Growing feed (hay/grass) is much easier than growing things like almonds. If a farmer co…

Given the colossal and uneven levels of subsidies in US agriculture, I'd be reluctant to draw any conclusions about what the market is willing to bear.

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#46

Post by mrep »

ceejayoz wrote: post #19
mrep wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But don't those trees eventually die and release that carbon back into the atmosphere?

The whole forest doesn't die at once, the dead trees' biomass doesn't all break down at once, and said biomass largely gets incorporated into new seedlings that spring up in the now-open space.

Yeah, but they continually die in a cycle such that the overall CO2 levels never really get stored long term as it is all temporarily stored in the trees.

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#48

Post by rayiner »

The one third being used for cows is misleading. Pasture is basically the Bureau of Land Management’s default use for the vast swaths of federal land. It’s like “here is this land, you’re allowed to graze on it with a permit.” That doesn’t produce that many cows—it’s more about politics and the fact that much of the land is good for little else besides growing grass.

The real land use from growing meat comes from the land used to grow the corn that feeds the cows. In the article, that’s counted as agricultural land, not pasture.

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#49

Post by dghughes »

hirundo wrote: post #30

> More than one-third of U.S. land is used for pasture ... There’s a single, major occupant on all this land: cows. Not here. I live on cow range land, but the cattle are outnumbered by elk. The elk hunting industry here is larger than the cattle industry. Every third local seems to be a hunting guide, and many of those are cow growers too. This seems to me to be a very positive thing that should be encouraged. Inste…

Alaska would be similar to northern parts of Canada where herds of nearly one million caribou roam.

Re: How America Uses Its Land

#50

Post by mc32 »

jdietrich wrote: post #41
mc32 wrote: post #33

If urban (built-up) areas have quadrupled since the 50's, I don't think that pace can continue unabated. Population has roughly doubled since then. It would seem the trend would require denser cities and suburbs, which should not be too difficult given that most metro areas are relatively low density.

The United States has a population density of 86 people per square mile. In Britain it's 704, in the Netherlands it's 1075 and in Singapore it's 20,192. You've got plenty of room. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...

It just seems wasteful if we were to use more than 5% of all land, much of which is "badlands" and marginal lands. True arable land, which is where our sustenance comes from is much less at around 16% currently.
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