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  • They have been prolific for about a year, I think, but the peak is coming this year. I think Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are amongst several countries badly affected.
  • Fires in Australia, Covid19, locusts: the planet / nature is trying to decrease the population of its greatest parasite: humans.

    We may not like to admit it but vaccines, lockdowns, greater life expectancy etc go against nature.

    Nature will fight back stronger and stronger until the human population is down to a level that is acceptable to other species and the planet.
    Interesting and very Malthusian .. and probably a lot to it. I think not so much nature fighting back as man's abuse of the planet taking its very heavy toll. Vaccines? .. eventually deadly to human viruses and microbes will find a way to become immune, scientists will always be trying to catch up.
     I was born in 1950 when the world's population was around 1.5-1.8 billion. Seventy years later  the population is fast approaching 8 billion. Against nature or will Malthusian theories come to pass. Will resource depletion allow for such a large increase in the human population  ?
  • Fires in Australia, Covid19, locusts: the planet / nature is trying to decrease the population of its greatest parasite: humans.

    We may not like to admit it but vaccines, lockdowns, greater life expectancy etc go against nature.

    Nature will fight back stronger and stronger until the human population is down to a level that is acceptable to other species and the planet.
    Nature isn’t a sentient being (unless you’re a pagan or something). 
  • Fires in Australia, Covid19, locusts: the planet / nature is trying to decrease the population of its greatest parasite: humans.

    We may not like to admit it but vaccines, lockdowns, greater life expectancy etc go against nature.

    Nature will fight back stronger and stronger until the human population is down to a level that is acceptable to other species and the planet.
    Interesting and very Malthusian .. and probably a lot to it. I think not so much nature fighting back as man's abuse of the planet taking its very heavy toll. Vaccines? .. eventually deadly to human viruses and microbes will find a way to become immune, scientists will always be trying to catch up.
     I was born in 1950 when the world's population was around 1.5-1.8 billion. Seventy years later  the population is fast approaching 8 billion. Against nature or will Malthusian theories come to pass. Will resource depletion allow for such a large increase in the human population  ?
    Plenty of room in Kent.
    The population of the world is predicted to rise to around 11 billion because people are living longer.

    But then it will (almost!) definitely start to decrease because the number of children being born in the world is already falling. Look it up!

    Long term population growth is not an issue any more. The real problem is that an ever greater proportion of the population will be above working age and need support from an ever decreasing proportion of young working people. 
  • First thing I thought was, can you eat locusts?
  • Fires in Australia, Covid19, locusts: the planet / nature is trying to decrease the population of its greatest parasite: humans.

    We may not like to admit it but vaccines, lockdowns, greater life expectancy etc go against nature.

    Nature will fight back stronger and stronger until the human population is down to a level that is acceptable to other species and the planet.
    Interesting and very Malthusian .. and probably a lot to it. I think not so much nature fighting back as man's abuse of the planet taking its very heavy toll. Vaccines? .. eventually deadly to human viruses and microbes will find a way to become immune, scientists will always be trying to catch up.
     I was born in 1950 when the world's population was around 1.5-1.8 billion. Seventy years later  the population is fast approaching 8 billion. Against nature or will Malthusian theories come to pass. Will resource depletion allow for such a large increase in the human population  ?
    Plenty of room in Kent.
    The population of the world is predicted to rise to around 11 billion because people are living longer.

    But then it will (almost!) definitely start to decrease because the number of children being born in the world is already falling. Look it up!

    Long term population growth is not an issue any more. The real problem is that an ever greater proportion of the population will be above working age and need support from an ever decreasing proportion of young working people. 
    I think the real problem will be with climate change more of the Earth will become inhabitable. The folks that live in those places are already trying to move elsewhere. 

    I don’t envy our kids/grand kids.
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  • PopIcon said:
    First thing I thought was, can you eat locusts?
    on one of his recent railway/travel progs in (I think) Vietnam or Cambodia, Michael Portillo  on a visit to a huge open air market bought and ate some crunchy fried insects of a grasshopper /locust type .. this is an interesting little aside .. quote

    'According to the Bible, John the Baptist ate locusts. This seems unsettling to many people, to have a key member of the early ministry of Christ living in such a manner. Many in the early church believed that this reference to locusts was actually meant to refer to the seeds of the carob tree, because the word used was similar in the Greek.' .. unquote

    I believe that insect and grub eating is quite common in the far and middle east

  • Insects are an excellent source of nutrition
  • PopIcon said:
    First thing I thought was, can you eat locusts?
    You can bet the Chinese do.
  • edited May 2020
    Most Bangkok red light districts have locust vendors. Crunchy on the outside. Runny on the inside. And the locusts are tasty, too.
  • I've eaten honey fried locusts - just tasted like crunchy honey to be honest.
  • edited May 2020
    PopIcon said:
    First thing I thought was, can you eat locusts?
    You can bet the Chinese do.
    Grasshoppers are far more common than locusts, they remind me of whitebait! 
  • Bugs for sale in Cambodia, our Thai daughter-in-law advised is not to try them as they were not freshly cooked. 

  • Aaaah, Cambodian, maybe my favourite country in the world.
  • MrWalker said:
    Most Bangkok red light districts have locust vendors. Crunchy on the outside. Runny on the inside. And the locusts are tasty, too.
    Getting hungry just looking at that.
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  • McBobbin said:
    Insects are an excellent source of nutrition.
    You can have my share....
  • In an overpopulated world, insects are the only source of protein that can correctly feed the planet without ruining the environment.

    No lol: counter-argument please.
  • In an overpopulated world, insects are the only source of protein that can correctly feed the planet without ruining the environment.

    No lol: counter-argument please.
    Not entirely true, but they definitely will need to form a much larger part of everyone's diet in the next few decades - even in Western society where they currently don't appear on any menus
  • In an overpopulated world, insects are the only source of protein that can correctly feed the planet without ruining the environment.

    No lol: counter-argument please.
    Not entirely true, but they definitely will need to form a much larger part of everyone's diet in the next few decades - even in Western society where they currently don't appear on any menus
    That's a fair comment. My use of the word 'only' was misplaced.
  • I think I'd prefer Soylent Green.
  • I think I'd prefer Soylent Green.
    Or even broccoli.

  • Addickted said:
    Bugs for sale in Cambodia, our Thai daughter-in-law advised is not to try them as they were not freshly cooked. 

    That looks like the aftermath of one of my barbeques.
    Actually I think that's what I had at Borough Market.
  • DRAddick said:
    We'll just ignore the fact that there's always been large scale fires and locust swarms regardless of the human population size.
    The fires in Australia are no more what is considered normal than how Covid19 is considered alongside other viruses

    https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/why-australias-2019-2020-bushfire-season-was-not-normal-three-graphs

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/25/factcheck-why-australias-monster-2019-bushfires-are-unprecedented
  • edited May 2020
    DRAddick said:
    We'll just ignore the fact that there's always been large scale fires and locust swarms regardless of the human population size.
    Locust swarms are exacerbated by climate change.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-29/east-africa-can-t-escape-plagues-of-locusts-floods-and-covid-19?sref=2o0rZsF1&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid==socialflow-twitter-view&utm_content=view&utm_source=twitter

    So much denial of the effects of climate change on CL.
  • DRAddick said:
    We'll just ignore the fact that there's always been large scale fires and locust swarms regardless of the human population size.
    Locust swarms are exacerbated by climate change.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-29/east-africa-can-t-escape-plagues-of-locusts-floods-and-covid-19?sref=2o0rZsF1&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid==socialflow-twitter-view&utm_content=view&utm_source=twitter

    So much denial of the effects of climate change on CL.
    IF there are going to be any long(ish) term 'benefits' from the pandemic, it will come in the form of less commuting (especially by car), less air travel, less world wide trade, more acceptance of and thinking about 'nature' and a greater awareness of living healthier lifestyles and consuming less. All these will have the effect of slowing down global warming. All big IFs, we will see (should 'we' live so long) if there has been any change in good old human nature
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