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Soil: The world beneath our feet

theguardian.com

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Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#41

Post by meetups323 »

Melatonic wrote: post #35
seanwilson wrote: post #32

> We face what could be the greatest predicament humankind has ever encountered: feeding the world without devouring the planet. Already, farming is the world’s greatest cause of habitat destruction, the greatest cause of the global loss of wildlife and the greatest cause of the global extinction crisis. It’s responsible for about 80% of the deforestation that’s happened this century. Of 28,000 species known to be at…

Fungi in general are amazing - it blows me away that in western culture we place such little emphasis on their consumption. There are three kingdoms (for the most part) that we can choose to consume - Plants, Animals, Fungi. And yet we just almost ignore the third one for what reason again? Many mushrooms are also a great meat alternative and have tons of health benefits not found elsewhere and can be great for the e…

Some meat substitutes use fungus. IMO they tend to produce the best chicken substitutes, for instance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#42

Post by calebm »

> "meat and milk from animals that rely solely on grazing provide just 1% of the world’s protein."

Love the article, but this seems like a straw man. Meat and milk much more than protein. And it's difficult to replace things like butter without sacrificing health - look at margarine.

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#43

Post by cato_the_elder »

seanwilson wrote: post #32

> We face what could be the greatest predicament humankind has ever encountered: feeding the world without devouring the planet. Already, farming is the world’s greatest cause of habitat destruction, the greatest cause of the global loss of wildlife and the greatest cause of the global extinction crisis. It’s responsible for about 80% of the deforestation that’s happened this century. Of 28,000 species known to be at…

> "eat less meat" isn't entertained as a serious option

It's simply baffling that this always gets brought up without stating the obvious fact that many people love to eat meat, and have no obligation to put up with the boring diet these policies would impose on them.

And I think this is yet another reason that the naive libertarian attitude of "I just wanna grill" (which I am also guilty of subscribing to until a few years ago) is a recipe for disaster. If we don't actively stand against these policies, soon the only thing you can grill would be veggies.

Some think this is unlikely to happen. But the paper straws debacle tells us that a vocal minority can impose these things on others. And remember that Japan was vegetarian for centuries before the Great Emperor Meiji liberated them from the ideology [1].

[1]: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/japan-meat-ban

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#44

Post by seanwilson »

QuikAccount wrote: post #38
seanwilson wrote: post #32

> We face what could be the greatest predicament humankind has ever encountered: feeding the world without devouring the planet. Already, farming is the world’s greatest cause of habitat destruction, the greatest cause of the global loss of wildlife and the greatest cause of the global extinction crisis. It’s responsible for about 80% of the deforestation that’s happened this century. Of 28,000 species known to be at…

> We're literally growing food to feed to animals that we bred ourselves, while losing ~90% of the calories in the process instead of eating crops directly when meat isn't required to be healthy. Most animal feed is the byproduct of things we are not eating[1]. This same study also address the land use concern. Most of it is not fit to grow crops with. I agree that people should reduce meat consumption but I find the…

How does this contradict the 75% land reduction link where they take into account land used for animal crops? They cite this study too so they're aware of it and cover that "Less than half – only 48% – of the world’s cereals are eaten by humans. 41% is used for animal feed, and 11% for biofuels".

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#45

Post by soheil »

Melatonic wrote: post #36
soheil wrote: post #12

> Without a radical change in the way we eat, by 2050 the world will need to grow around 50% more grain. Is that the only way? What if we grow grains that need 50% less water? This article is mind numbingly preachy and ignores that technology can and always has been at the forefront of human progress. Yes, if we wake up one day in 30 years and find that we have made 0 technological progress then we will need 50% more…

In my opinion what we really need (if we are going to continue to live a lifestyle at all similar to what we have now) are big investments in new farming methods that allow food to be grown next to where people live. If you want to live in a big city now (which potentially can have big environmental benefits with multiunit housing and whatnot) your food probably comes from far away. Imagine if the highrise next to yo…

> I don't see any reason why we could not

Because of pollution from the city getting into the food and also as importantly the pollution from farming back into the environment.

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#46

Post by bmitc »

hetspookjee wrote: post #37
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How to find out which plants are native to which region?

I struggle to find the answer too. I want to plant exclusively plants in my garden that are native to my region and find other properties. These sources do provide some information but none of them are really pleasant or on par with quality. - garden.org - https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/home - http://eol.org # This shows some nice graphs of what pest might ward of other invaders but its quite the challenge to find i…

I am honestly thinking about working actively on this problem. Right now, the information is spread out across several websites and databases. The best way that I have discovered is to find local to your state organizations that serve as stewards for native plants. At least in my state, there are at least three, and these places are normally non-profit organizations that also sell the native plants which are also grown in your state, making them a great choice. We just got our house last year and a yard to go with it, and it's my plan this year to go along with these local organizations to purchase all my native plants. I use the app Picture This to identify plants that are currently in my yard to know which ones I want to remove and replace with native plants. The app will often tell you where the plant is native to, and if not, I research it online.

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#47

Post by black_puppydog »

Melatonic wrote: post #36
soheil wrote: post #12

> Without a radical change in the way we eat, by 2050 the world will need to grow around 50% more grain. Is that the only way? What if we grow grains that need 50% less water? This article is mind numbingly preachy and ignores that technology can and always has been at the forefront of human progress. Yes, if we wake up one day in 30 years and find that we have made 0 technological progress then we will need 50% more…

In my opinion what we really need (if we are going to continue to live a lifestyle at all similar to what we have now) are big investments in new farming methods that allow food to be grown next to where people live. If you want to live in a big city now (which potentially can have big environmental benefits with multiunit housing and whatnot) your food probably comes from far away. Imagine if the highrise next to yo…

would the farm next door also be farming beef & chicken?

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#48

Post by oh_sigh »

throwaway1777 wrote: post #9
bmitc wrote: post #4

This is a great article. I forgot where I read it, but someone basically said that we need to stop treating soil as just dirt. I have found out through my research that replacing invasive species and lawns with native plants and also composting organic waste, leaves, and twigs and returning that to your lawn are two of the best things a single person or group of persons can do to thwart climate change. Organic materi…

What’s the difference between composting in the yard and composting in a landfill?

If you do it wrong - nothing. As others have responded though, oxygen is the difference, and that is why you need to "turn" your compost every couple of days. If you don't, it will start to get very stinky - if you're doing aerobic composting shouldn't really have a smell, maybe something slightly earthy but that is it.

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#49

Post by ehejdud »

calebm wrote: post #42

> "meat and milk from animals that rely solely on grazing provide just 1% of the world’s protein." Love the article, but this seems like a straw man. Meat and milk much more than protein. And it's difficult to replace things like butter without sacrificing health - look at margarine.

Yet Italian food doesn't use any and still extremely popular...

Re: Soil: The world beneath our feet

#50

Post by ehejdud »

cato_the_elder wrote: post #43
seanwilson wrote: post #32

> We face what could be the greatest predicament humankind has ever encountered: feeding the world without devouring the planet. Already, farming is the world’s greatest cause of habitat destruction, the greatest cause of the global loss of wildlife and the greatest cause of the global extinction crisis. It’s responsible for about 80% of the deforestation that’s happened this century. Of 28,000 species known to be at…

> "eat less meat" isn't entertained as a serious option It's simply baffling that this always gets brought up without stating the obvious fact that many people love to eat meat, and have no obligation to put up with the boring diet these policies would impose on them. And I think this is yet another reason that the naive libertarian attitude of "I just wanna grill" (which I am also guilty of subscribing to until a fe…

I find your opinion on it baffling as well. The obvious fact is that is a selfish attitude. Do what you want, but that is a fact.

I don't think the animals feel very liberated either if you consider other life forms.

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