Last week, the world's population passed the 7 billion landmark. With so many mouths to feed (and so very many hungry already), the question becomes: What can the planet handle? Is there enough food for us all, and with the population continuing to grow, what can we do to ensure enough for the generations ahead?
On a personal level, it's easy: help the rest of the planet accommodate by eating locally grown foods, eating less meat, and wasting less food. On a broader level, though, it will be important for farming to adapt. This means that farming will have to become more efficient and resources will have to be used more wisely.
While those are broad-spectrum issues, we think that employing them in our own food routines will do some good to help feed this burgeoning population.
What do you think? Does the population growth make you think differently about your food habits, and do you think changing personal habits can help affect change worldwide?
Read more about feeding 7 billion outside of Re-Nest:
• 7 Billion and Counting: Can Earth Handle It?
• The Planet Will House 10 Billion People, And We Can Feed Them All
• How to Feed 7 Billion of Us Without Ruining the Planet
• Feeding 7 Billion People: 7 Must-Reads
Related posts:
• Wasting Food? More Studies Prove You Shouldn't
• How To Eat Locally Grown Food All Year Long
• Eat Local to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
(Image: Flickr member Parker Michael Knight, licensed under Creative Commons.)
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
White Enamel Flatwa...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Americans have all these soul-killing grass lawns that have not been relevant since the 1950s - we could use at least half that space to grow food, that would solve problems. Plant a few trees and it may help curb local pollution as well. Individuals learning to be self-sufficient and share with our communities would be good for our country.
I've been reading a lot of science fiction from the 50s lately. All I have to say is that I am glad we are not eating all foods derived from yeast...or each other.
To paraphrase my husband, we should all be allowed to have as many children as we want but only the first one can't be eaten.
This is one of the top reasons I went vegan. So much land is wasted on producing food for so few people in comparison to if the land was used for growing crops.
As much as I like the idea of food-based solutions - BIRTH CONTROL. Let's give it to everyone who wants it, because in much of the fastest-growing parts of the world, women either want it and can't get it, or don't even know that it exists, but when told it does exist, want it.
No fascist government programs necessary - women who have access to birth control can stay in school longer, better nourish and educate their children, and lead healthier lives both for themselves and their children, all because they can choose when they want to have children.
Fewer people = less of a problem feeding them.
Still, eating less meat is a good idea for everyone. And wasting less food is good for the planet and your wallet.
Vintagejenta, I agree with your equation. But we don't need to do anything about it. Nature will fix it on its own, as it always has. Sad as it is to say, the surplus will die. This planet has a threshold, and seeing as its equilibrium is on the verge of breaking, the threshold shouldn't be far off. The recent swine flu epidemic was one of the more obvious of nature's defenses against overpopulation.
When people are at war for water, it will happen again: they will kill each other, thereby reducing Earth's population, and the survivors will have water - for a time, until the threshold is reached again.
The 15 billions and 50 billions we are supposed to reach in decades will never materialize.
Some experts have said that the planet can handle 10 billion. It is also theorized that humans tend to naturally have fewer children as the population increases.
Regardless, if we want the planet to get cleaner as the population continues to increase, we need to do some major overhauling in order to have cleaner practices in food production, industry, building and travel.