Eric Rimmerhad said on 6\/11:<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks Peter \u2013 I do like your second paragraph \u2013 though there is a catch. The UK and the US and many more relatively low-birth-rate countries cannot live within the food-production capacity of the land they live in!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
To Peter Salonius\u2019s statement on 6\/11:<\/p>\n
\u2018That said, there certainly is sentiment suggesting that food aid \u2014 offered to populations that have overshot the food production capacity of the land they live on \u2013 should not be lavished on people until they institute well defined programs that WILL begin to decrease their numbers toward levels that can be supported\/sustained by the productive capacity of their OWN LAND.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
and
\nAshok Agrwaal responding to my comment on 6\/15<\/p>\nI find this brief analysis by Phil Henshaw far more meaningful than reams of speculative stuff churned out by Americans in general.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
I replied on 6\/13:<\/p>\n
Eric,<\/p>\n
Right, and the way to measure that \u201cunaccountable\u201d footprint on the land, far away from the user is the trick, that I think I figured out.<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s using the statistical principle that most dollars can\u2019t have way below average impact, so unless you can show it, consider your spending to have average impacts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nI think the math works out more or less like the image I had when reading the fashion magazine yesterday at the doctor\u2019s office.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a full page image of exquisite beauty surrounding a fabulous sea side South Hampton beach house.<\/p>\nWhat popped into my mind was \u201can acre of undisturbed bliss in a square mile of total destruction\u201d. \u00a0 There are 640 acres in a sq mile and maybe it takes a million dollar income to have one of those places.<\/p>\n
The world energy intensity of money =6000btu\/$ fairly uniformly around the world.\u00a0\u00a0 With a 1M$ \u00a0income your energy use would about equal to 2.3 acres of high performance PV solar collectors, a reasonable measure of the highest intensity mono-culture buildable.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the guesswork.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the average renewable productivity of the total of disturbed land? \u00a0 \u00a0You’d need to count a proportional share of all the clear cut forest, all the paved and plowed land, the scraped ocean floors and the deserts of overgrazed arid pasture.<\/p>\n
Then *maybe* your share of all the unproductive waste land would pull down the average productivity of your land use to 1\/250th of the highest possible efficiency use.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then you have your 1 acre of bliss being supported by 1 square mile of destruction.<\/p>\n
Phil Henshaw\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00b8\u00b8\u00b8\u00b8.\u00b7\u00b4 \u00af `\u00b7.\u00b8\u00b8\u00b8\u00b8
\nNY NY\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 www.synapse9.com<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
ed 2\/14\/12 –<\/p>\n
fyi – current data for “Dollar Shadow<\/a>” impact estimates are that world average GDP energy intensity is ~8000btu\/$ and the energy for producing $1 of GDP would take .175 sf of solar farm for a year to generate\u00a0as electricity\u00a0or a .0063 sq mi area. \u00a0That multiplied by the assumed factor of 250 above gives 1.57 sq mi. \u00a0other notes and discussion see Systems Energy Assessment<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Eric Rimmerhad said on 6\/11: \u201cThanks Peter \u2013 I do like your second paragraph \u2013 though there is a catch. The UK and the US and many more relatively low-birth-rate countries cannot live within the food-production capacity of the land they live in!\u201d To Peter Salonius\u2019s statement on 6\/11: \u2018That said, there certainly is sentiment … Continue reading 1 Acre of Bliss, for 1 sq mile of destruction<\/span>