Short answer? Because for all our enormous achievements as human beings, on some level we’ve barely evolved past yeast.
What’s the first thing yeast does when given a salutary environment? The population expands past carrying capacity until the environment is too befouled and the resources too exhausted to support the population — which crashes.
Our history has been one long struggle to evade carrying capacity… but then we expand past it… hence our need to disprove Malthus… oh, about generationally, these days.
“It’s such a weird idea that food justice is only about getting cheaper food to low-income consumers,” Nabhan says. “Is it elitist to support farmers? The production costs of farmers in drought-strick […]
Add your own comment
Short answer? Because for all our enormous achievements as human beings, on some level we’ve barely evolved past yeast.
What’s the first thing yeast does when given a salutary environment? The population expands past carrying capacity until the environment is too befouled and the resources too exhausted to support the population — which crashes.
Our history has been one long struggle to evade carrying capacity… but then we expand past it… hence our need to disprove Malthus… oh, about generationally, these days.
@Gordeaux -
You’re not wrong Gordon. Yeast has it lucky; it doesn’t have little budding geniuses who stave off the evil day for a few generations.