The other inconvenient truth | Jonathan Foley | TEDxTC 

It seems like reducing food waste is also an extremely important part of the equation.

What he is describing is Permaculture. It is a compilation of many techniques such as storing water in the ground so irrigation is not always necessary and creating food forests with a wide variety of trees, shrubs, plants, vines from which you can eat and, once established, lives without human input.

We not only need solutions to the agricultural crisis, we need to have a global discussion on global population growth. Growing more food just means more people and the cycle will continue.

Permaculture is the answer! It unites agriculture and ecology in such a simple and beautiful way; it provides more food, more health, more biodiversity, more natural resources with every year of practice.

Scientists: "Failure is not an option". Humanity: "Were going to prove that it is".

The talk concludes, audience claps, 7 years pass and nothing has changed.

He held a lecture at my university in Sweden today! He was such an inspiring person, albeit I did leave the lecture hall with a slight feeling that, well, we're fucked..

Thank Jonathan for great knowledge, we build an environment org called No Waste Vietnam

I run a small farm in Massachusetts part-time. There are ways to heal the planet with agriculture through systems like permaculture but it requires knowledge and participation. As long as people think they make the food at the supermarket and agriculture is run by corporations, there will never be a solution......Until its forced on us.

We are also depleting the oceans.

Thank you :)

Does anyone know where to find the video he shows in here, by itself? Thanks so much

I love how he talks about animals stealing all the water and then points out that the lettuce farmers are draining the Colorado river..Hahahahaha

What is not mentioned is the amount of food that is produced and them wasted and in america alone. America Produces tons of food but tons of food gets wasted to keep prices high.... You know CAPITALISM at its finest!

We are going to do something only when it is too late, that's what I believe.

One great thing about a vegan diet is I can do it without limiting my life in any real way, and still make a big impact on reducing animal suffering and climate change.

And Humanity is getting richer, so we can take better care of our environment. This is already happening in Western nations, Japan etc. Agriculture is using less land to grow more food and that trend is increasing. Health outcomes are improving globally. Climate change is not a problem.

You are utterly correct

As important these things are, one point seems to have been forgotten: the amount of food wasted everyday. Whether it's because of poor transportation or for "cosmetic" reasons etc. I don't know the exact numbers, but it seems to me that if we efficiently distributed all the food grown, the problems illustrated in this video would become much more manageable.

What would be the worst place to have a war? How about between 2 of the largest food exporters in the world.

This guy is absolutely right, we need every possible resource to fix this, there is not ONE single solution, but rather taking the best from every production system that we know today.One example: Replace rice and corn in our diets with crops that generates up to 5 times more carbohydrates per hectare, such as potatoes and cassava. That is, feed 5 times the number of people from the same land! This crisis can be solved, it just require 100% commitment from politicians, consumers and business.

All systems are linked. Higher temperatures would mean higher plant production in moderate climate zones and vast new green areas in cold zones like Siberia and Canada. Which means more plant consumption of CO2, plant production of O2, and vast new areas for agricultural production. So assuming global warming is true, is that not a good thing? (Dr. Patrick Moore pointed this out btw)

Agroforestry is maybe the solution for now. We can get food as well as restoring trees which are already cleared in Forests. If we do Agroforestry, the rainfall we are getting now will spread allover the region instead of having floods at once. One more thing is trees holds lots of water and sends to the Atmosphere, it helps to cool the planet someway as well as the ground water will raise much better.

There is lots of water, we just have to remove the salt. If we double atmospheric CO2 a couple of times, plants will grow faster, in more areas, and with less water.

Thanks for getting this very important message out there.

Maybe if they took the food wasted in places like Las Vegas, or even in supermarkets and used it, there wouldn't be a problem. The big problem in farming is miss management and sloppy distribution.

Great points.

the soundtrack was So convincing !

I love you PC man!

Memphis meats from cell growth a wonderful adaptation. Hydroponic growth in each community a more space conserving idea especially good during cold winters.

Can I use a screenshot of the video that he's showing for one of my assessment presentations at university?

don't forget about widespread urban rooftop agriculture potential as well!

This is the video that fully persuaded me to try eating vegetarian. Screw the poultry industry and their selfish, irreversible amount of damage to the earth!

Videos: Greening the Desert, Back to Eden, people: Allan Savory, Geoff Lauden....

2:45 over and again, landscape after landscape have been cleared/altered to grow food/crops. 3:20 map shows green farm areas, brown wildlife areas. 4:25 using enormous amount of land for agriculture. 4:35 mining water to farm lettuce in middle of dessert which dries up river beds. 5:35 aral sea bw kazakstan and ubekistan. in 1950s soviets diverted river water to irrigate desert to grow cotton which dried up the aral sea by 2009. 8:15 we use a lot of land water and atmosphere for agriculture, agriculture is 70% water use and 30% emitter of greenhouse gasses, more than all other human activity. it is also primary driver in biodiversity loss. 14:25 world pop growing by size of germany each year so 9B by 2040. how do we feed us all? 15:55 agri is the biggest contributor to climate change. meta message: we cant feed 9B the same way we did 7B. in short, get ready to eat insect protein.

There isn't a looming food shortage: the last time I calculated, the US along produces enough corn each year to give every human being on earth 77,000 lbs. of corn. If there are starving people in this world, it isn't because there isn't enough food being produced; it is because some countries are hoarding what they produce or too much corn is being diverted for biofuels. Food is a requirement for life, not something optional like jewelry; so why is it something from which large corporations are allowed to make excessive profits?

I don't see the reason why he compared the area of land occupied by crops/pastures and cities. The population density of cities do not allow them to feed their own populations - so where do they think they get their food from, the supermarket or McDonalds? A better comparison would be to take the population of the earth and multiply that by the minimum area needed to live by subsidence farming. Then you would be able to see if we were being efficient or not with land use...

In grade school, I was the smallest kid by weight, yet also the strongest and fastest; living on my Cherokee, traditional foods of Hominy (corn), Beans & Squash. In 1975, I was talked into switching to the Paleo Diet, "to get bigger & stronger"; ten months ago, at age 50, I almost died from Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Type II Diabetes, Gout and Prostate Issues. I switched to VEGAN (no salt, no oil) and have completely reversed or cured ALL of the above Diseases and Issues

Good talk.

I am participating in a project with my neighbourhood. We plant potatoes, tomatoes, etc...lot of work but free organic food in exchange...and if what we have too much we can sell and re-invest and maybe grow?!

Before we look at how to increase food production we need first to solve our waste problems. We consume based on wants in the "developed" world, not on our needs. There are no laws that dictate how much food or other products you are allowed to buy, and no laws on how much you decide to waste. With a system based on supply and demand, the global "need" is misinterpreted. It is actually the global want. We need to solve our waste issue first, before we decide how much we need to be producing.

The final statement, “have to get it right” is romantic but has no basis in truth of any kind, in fact, the reverse is what humanity has always planned for. It’s a “I got mine, now you get yours” kind of world out there, industrial military complex(es) sit on top of the planet , injustice reigns.

They could have left the Night satellite image up longer

We are doing everything we can to try and maintain our current way of life instead of considering that maybe our whole way of life is wrong. People believe that various infrastructure solutions and consumer choices will be able to save the planet? This is untrue. The human race must live indigenous again and will live indigenous again whether we like it or not. The real question is how much do we want to destroy the land in the meantime? And how much of a toxic legacy we will be left with?

Vertical farming, hydroponics and aquaculture, would seem to be an answer. The caloric yields per acre are astounding, much of the energy can be delivered via solar on the roofs, and it isn't weather dependent.

I feel that much of this problem, is that most people have no skills, produce nothing, create nothing, have no abilities, have no interests, are profoundly ignorant and even less interested in the world around them. Good luck making any changes.

nice presentation.

I'd like to see a video on the impact of military and wars. For example, how many gallons of fuel is dumped each year into the oceans by jets before landing on aircraft carriers. I have heard that the U.S. Air Force burned 2.5 billion gallons of fuel in 2005, for example. How many bombs does what kind of damage around the world. What is left of Agent Orange in Vietnam? etc.

anyone have a time stamp for when he suggests not eating meat or mentions trophic levels?

Land roads are the best ways for transportation in the future. We need to find ways of air transportation in the future

Ok, explain one thing to me, please. At 5:08 we have the pictures of the Colorado River. In the 1950, even mountains were covered with vegetation. In the "today" picture, I can see that there is no vegetation on the mountains - they are "naked". As far as I know, Rivers do not flow upwards, so the reason for the lack of vegetation and the narrower river in the "today" picture are more scarce rainfalls. Both the river and mountain vegetation suffered from the same source - but not agriculture.

I see what you are saying. I feel that prevention is better than a cure. I do agree that things change and human innovation plays a huge part. After i read what you wrote it has gotten me thinking. Thanks for educating me on that

Maybe instead of stopping animal agriculture, we should try to develop ways to effectively use and manage current meat land and property to use methane gas and other waste products for other purposes. In order to also use land better, more time and effort needs to be put into agriscience. We need food so we don't die, and, in order to allow people who's livelihood revolves around livestock, we need to focus on research and development so agriculture can survive, thrive, and be a viable option.

Fully half of American corn is used, not as food or animal feed, but to make ethanol, to avoid fossil fuel use, and thereby supposedly to "fight climate change." That's about 50 million acres, which is more than the land area of the nine smallest American States, combined: Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. That's 50 million acres devoted to growing Roundup-Ready monoculture corn. So the question to ask is, how much environmental damage should we accept, to "fight climate change?"

what is the song at the end of this video? :3

Its not new ag, its the oldest form Ive ever heard of. The early people in N America practiced a form of it. Monoculture, plowing, clearing, all of that gone. Encourage whats there naturally , and get some stuff comming to prime at different times of the season and year. Little impact on the land and other creatures while gleening a large varity of foods.

All that you said is correct. All kinds of pressures influence the willingness for new couples to have children. Instead of 6, you have 2 or 1 and not at 21 years old but at around 33 when the carreer is on track. :) Do you think this also happens in Africa?

For a better albeit opposing solution, watch the other TED talk on this issue; "Allan Savory: How to Green the World's Deserts & Revert Climate Change". I find the other TED talk to convey a far more persuasive solution. Please reply back to me after viewing, as I'd love to hear others' thoughts on the matter ^_*

I thought was going to a talk on how none of the doomsday predictions of the first inconvenient truth were even remotely true. My mistake.

The "smarter diet" is plant-based. If we stopped raising crops to make into livestock feed, that alone would free up enough land to feed 11 billion people. Now factor in all that pasture land and there is enough for people and enough to rewild some to give back to the wild animals we've displaced and pushed towards extinction. Add in better, more natural farming practices and problem solved plus climate change would be reduced or even reversed. He needs to update this talk. The REAL inconvenient truth is that ANIMAL agriculture due to rising demand for meat and dairy products is what's destroying the planet.

the problem lies with the rich minority on this planet who consume most of the food and always demand for the best while around half of the world population is living is absolute substance !

Gazing animals should eat their natural food, not corn. Animals should be outside on the grassland. Using holistic gazing methods, like the Savory Institute does, the desertification in grasslands can be reversed. More grazing animals provide more food, more healthy grasslands change the microclimate of the area. Little rivers return, Grass holds CO2 in living plant material. What we definitely NOT do is burning alcohol made from corn as car fuel. now that is wasting food.

there have been many alternatives. the question deals with the EROEI. sweet crude has EROEI of ~100 to 40. alternative liquid fuels like biodiesel, ethanol, butanol all have EROEI of about ~ 1. whatever energy we have left should focused in developing sustainable solutions. then another question is how long will it take to develop and make the transition? and if killing themselves is a bad thing, imagine warfare to kill others which is happening now.

9 bil is probably his estimate of the carrying capacity of humans on earth which often estimated in the 5-14 bil range. There are a lot of phenomena that occur when a species hit their environments carrying capacity, anything from mass extinction to stabilization and strengthening of population. If you consider current climate change a largely human phenomenon then it could be perceived that we have exceeded our carrying capacity already and our environment is now reacting to balance the growth.

stop agricultural subsidies and let the market speak animal agriculture is ineffective and expensive people need to see that on their bill because they can't see it in their taxes

Great talk!

The Actual Inconvenient Truth is that in order to address climate change in any real way will require a lot less animal agriculture and a lot less population growth ALONG WITH massive energy conservation and conversion to renewable sources.

I thought the food web was supposed to be all but destroyed by now? What happened? Or should I say, what didn' t happen??? Still waiting for the end of the world as we know it.

even nicer: collaboration in an even broader perspective, incorporating ecology, somatics, arts, the human arts (language, sociology, science of nature, philosophy, theology/spirituality), f.i., love 'n feeling :) bye now

He very obviously knows about the solution, but doesn't mention it. I feel sorry for him, I know how it feels when you are scared that people will not take you seriously anymore the moment the word "vegan" crosses your lips. Yet he missed a very good opportunity. We are past the point of being able to be excused for holding back the truth. We must speak up. In a sense, this talk was very vague. it made his audience aware of a problem, but stopped there. What are people who are uneducated in the field of agriculture to do with a conclusion such as the one he offers? He should have told them what kind of changes they need not make when making their day-to-day consumer decisions. All this talk will spark is feeling of helplessness and powerlessness ultimately leading to an attitude of indifference, which is very dangerous.

Also this: "Eat recycled food. Its good for the environment and ok for you"

Scared. Too many people. Too many forests being cut down. Too many cities. Too much farmland. TOO MANY PEOPLE!

how about algae farming, algaeculture? that could be done anywhere near the sea/ocean (or maybe even directly on the sea, if we develop proper technology), do not require fresh water and it produce healthy nutrients.

even if I completely agree on meat free diet health benefits and I eat it rarely too I still want meant as delicacy to spice my life sometimes it just tastes good and modern humans have very few pleasures besides food. considering that meat is about 10% of my diet, and plant-> meat conversion efficiency is aslo like 10%, so this 10% of my diet is equivalent to all remaining food I consume.

go aquaponic, hydroponic, vertical farming and put green roftops on every house. small wonder that agrecultural land needs more space than urban districts simply add the third dimension to farming and voila we have skyscraer farms if youre interested there are some startups in sweden and netherlands a.e.

Of course, and some day that will be a relevant and pressing matter. But of the time being it isn't in comparison to other issues.

The map is encouraging as far as pasture since most of the world's pasture land is natural prairie where grassing is part of the ecology and crop farming is not. The main thing is that we gather our food in a way that works with the local natural environment i.e. get forest food from forest, prairie food from prairie and desert food from deserts etc. This is not to say that we can't have a garden or a greenhouse in any of these areas and victory gardens should be the norm, but we need to minimize steping out of the natural eco system. We also need to understand that capitalism depends on waste as a built in feature. Production production production. This waste must also increase as a main part of capitalism and the psychosis of viewing the world as a commodity instead of a relationship. Since a third of the world's food is wasted and untold land is contaminated with radiation and petroleum just to make a few rich people richer i don't know if the world can be saved.

we already have enough food to feed us, but there is starvation. food utilization as well as efficiency in production is necessary.

9 billion people? I wonder if the earth can feed 9 billion people. Perhaps we need to think about leveling off population growth.

Some good points, However, The initial point was that the numbers ultimately won't work. At some point, that projected 10 billion turns into 20, 30, etc etc...at some point the real conversation is going to have to occur.

But how far are we willing to go to save this planet? Are we willing to adopt a vegetarian diet? Are we willing to make use of thrown away food? Are we willing to consume less? We better be, but i'm sceptical.

imagine agriculture by land area is 30x cities, but a person on decent soil can grow all they need on a plot of land no larger than their home. Clearly we are not using land efficiently.

If you want higher plant yields per hectare/acre, it stands to reason that you need to concentrate the food for the plants so that they become bigger and yield higher output. That means we must increase the basic material that is plant food. THAT IS INCREASE CO2 CONCENTRATION. That results is a "one stone, two birds" solution. Plants use water to exchange for CO2 gas for photosynthesis (their food)via their stomata (look it up), so... Higher CO2 concentration results in less water requirement for the plant. This is one large part of the solution. Another, which shows promise, is in research at present but not funded at all, to produce meat proteins via industrial production. This is being carried out in very few laboratories at present. There are conflicting theories and technologies at present but none has yielded economic or science results that are satisfactory yet better than animal husbandry. However one of them will yield a result that will negate the requirement to kill animals for meat proteins within the next 10 years. This speaker is what Nicholas Taleb categorizes as an "Academician" or "empty suit" who clutches his pearls but has no solutions. There are solutions, but we're in a world that would rather spend billions on "weapons" than "butter". Where we are being frightened by the wrong problems (Climate Warming/Change) so that capital misapplications are the order of the day for short term economic gains by charlatans like Gore & Company instead of logical and attainable long term solutions for the planet.

That's certainly one reason, among many, that'd make things difficult. How do you monetize "less" people? Another fundamental flaw in our thinking.

It's not just food, it's biofuel, food for livestock, etc...

It would help to use a better map than Mercator projection. S America and Africa would look much bigger (as they are in reality) and drive the message home better.

One question: Why does his vid say agricultural production needs could double or triple, when population is only going up from 7billion to 9-9.5billion? Thats like a 30-35% population increase. Shouldn't that mean in the same time (now and 2040) food production would only increase the same (30%) amount, or less?

So what are his ideas/solutions for the worlds growing food demand?

I mean, would you have foreseen the pollution standards laid down by government and environment agencies today, and them getting met by vehicle manufacturers? Talk of the wastage of fuel and the amount of pollution engines of the yesteryears produced. And now? Tesla and the like are grinding it down in their research labs to produce cheap, viable, green vehicles. As technology advances, things get better. That's my positive outlook.

I remember when toxic waste dumps were bad. Now farms are bad. Sheeeeeesh

This is where climate change attention should focus on.

@NatureIsInfinite I'm not sure we have to go all the way back to living "indigenous", but I like a lot of the ideals that permaculture espouses. Unfortunately adopting some of them without becoming a hippie communist in the eyes of my suburban friends might prove to be a challenge...

I think that the first picture was just taken at a different time of day so the coloring looks different. Believe me, that part of the world hasn't be heavily vegetated for probably thousands of years.

While that may be true, where will these billions more live and what happens to the quality of life? We have to remember that space is a resource.

Correct, no population limits must be set. The main thing that needs to happen is an increase in wealth in nations with high fertility rates. Family size will decrease automatically then.

So, if you are a farmer what can you do? If you are producing food can you find ways to be more productive and less destructive in light of emissions and inputs? Find out how you can gain the knowledge required to farm for the future and reduce bonus too. We invite you to check out our store to find out more. We recommend the Meeting the Challenge for Change by Dr Christine Jones

"global discussion on global population growth" There was a time, way back in the 60s when this WAS a topic to be discussed. Verboten today! Politically incorrect! Without a limit to human population, there is no solution!

Water allocation is pretty much maxed out here though and the widespread conversion from dry-stock to dairy has not been kind to water quality. We're in the same boat as everyone else ie we're all fucked - start praying that someone pops the cherry on cold fusion this half of the century. And/or soylent green. I'm down if you are.

Dentro de pocos años vamos a ser 9000 millones de humanos sobre nuestro único planeta. 9000 millones de bocas para alimentar, en un futuro que desea que la hambruna sea un mal recuerdo. ¿Cómo lo vamos a lograr? Ya usamos una superficie equivalente a América del Sur y África juntas para producir nuestros alimentos. Desecamos ríos y lagos para producirlos. Producimos el 30% de los gases de efecto invernadero en ello. ¿Cómo lo vamos a lograr?

I should've started watching at 14:17