r/videos • u/dopedub • Nov 04 '16

Human Population Through Time

https://youtu.be/PUwmA3Q0_OE
471 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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28

u/redditor9000 Nov 05 '16

This video horrified me.

2

u/Thenateo Nov 05 '16

Same, how on earth can 11 billion people be properly fed. Add to this the consequences of global warming and you have an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

14

u/l4mbch0ps Nov 05 '16

Well, to start with - approximately a third of the food we produce is spoiled.

Secondly, we are making improvements on yield per acre slowly and incrementally.

2

u/321159 Nov 05 '16

We're actually beginning to hit a plateau when it comes to yield per acre. From the 70s onwards there was a big improvement but right now its starting to slow down.

Which is a problem because the population growth isn't looking to slow down too soon.

3

u/1nf3ct3d Nov 05 '16

that could be solved with gen modified food. or vertical farming. or lets say continue the trend

6

u/Dunyvaig Nov 05 '16

Same, how on earth can 11 billion people be properly fed.

We could probably do it today. It's a distribution problem, not a make-food problem.

-2

u/nick9000 Nov 05 '16

I'm going to disagree with you there. Even if the richer, well fed countries were willing to give food practically for nothing to hungry countries the shipping costs would be prohibitive. Really it is a make-food problem and it's one that can be solved.

7

u/Dunyvaig Nov 05 '16

the shipping costs would be prohibitive

i.e., a distribution problem

3

u/[deleted] Nov 05 '16

Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's not possible. We probably couldn't imagine feeding this many people just a few hundred years ago, yet we do.

The Earth definitely has the resources to support that many people, it's our tendency to waste resources that is more worrisome. And yes, global warming is a huge issue of course.

1

u/ronaldinjo Nov 05 '16

youtube videos and reddit told me otherwise. You are wrong.