Jan 28, 2023·edited Jan 28, 2023Liked by antirobust
I think you underestimate the food waste and air quality issues.
For food waste, it isn't so much an 'over-production' issue as much as resource recycling. Every atom of every non-carbon/hydrogen/oxygen element that is exported out in nutritious food needs to be replaced for eventually yields go down. Nitrogen can be fixed by legumes and minerals are slowly released from bedrock, but neither are fast enough for continual production, thus most agriculture needs lots of inputs. Now, you can get that synthetically (which also brings a carbon/energy cost) or we could be better at capturing the food waste that we produce. I don't think many want to lower food production (increasing risk of famine) but rather capture and utilize a waste stream that is already being produced. For example, Maryland (my state!) just passed a law requiring any organization that produces over two tons of food waste per week to capture and (commercially) compost it, thus producing a massive amount of fertile organic material for our agricultural industry. I'll also note that this comment merely notes the chemical 'accounting' of compost and not the numerous biological benefits. Link for the MD stuff: https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/land/recyclingandoperationsprogram/pages/foodscraps.aspx
For air-quality, I will shamelessly plug (sorry) my recent newsletter on air-quality. Even small improvements in education, productivity, and health could have profound effects as those all affect and influence one another, giving a compounding effect. Even if their aren't HUGE effects, it is clear that at minimum it would pay for itself. https://thecounterpoint.substack.com/p/pandemic-lesson-3-we-need-an-air
I think you underestimate the food waste and air quality issues.
For food waste, it isn't so much an 'over-production' issue as much as resource recycling. Every atom of every non-carbon/hydrogen/oxygen element that is exported out in nutritious food needs to be replaced for eventually yields go down. Nitrogen can be fixed by legumes and minerals are slowly released from bedrock, but neither are fast enough for continual production, thus most agriculture needs lots of inputs. Now, you can get that synthetically (which also brings a carbon/energy cost) or we could be better at capturing the food waste that we produce. I don't think many want to lower food production (increasing risk of famine) but rather capture and utilize a waste stream that is already being produced. For example, Maryland (my state!) just passed a law requiring any organization that produces over two tons of food waste per week to capture and (commercially) compost it, thus producing a massive amount of fertile organic material for our agricultural industry. I'll also note that this comment merely notes the chemical 'accounting' of compost and not the numerous biological benefits. Link for the MD stuff: https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/land/recyclingandoperationsprogram/pages/foodscraps.aspx
For air-quality, I will shamelessly plug (sorry) my recent newsletter on air-quality. Even small improvements in education, productivity, and health could have profound effects as those all affect and influence one another, giving a compounding effect. Even if their aren't HUGE effects, it is clear that at minimum it would pay for itself. https://thecounterpoint.substack.com/p/pandemic-lesson-3-we-need-an-air
Love these updates!