Five Foods That Are Killing the Planet

[MineralMan]

14. Yes, I do know that. Once burned, a forest will not burn again, if

planted to crops. The impact is small, compared to the constant burning of fossil fuels, which represent burning of organic materials built up over very, very long periods.

Once, say, a coffee plantation is created, far more fuel will be burned in roasting, growing, and transporting the crops than from burning of the original forest replaced by the plantation.

GMO crops were also mentioned. What was not mentioned was that most of the land used to grow those was already in use for crop production for long previous periods. Again, it is the production, processing, and shipping of the resultant crops that have the most impact on the environment on a continuing basis. The original ecosystem was destroyed long, long ago.

The whole bluefin tuna thing really has no impact on the planet itself. It is an extinction event of a top-of-the-chain predator. If the bluefin tuna disappears, other predators not of interest to the fishing industry will breed more successfully to exploit the same resources exploited by the bluefin. The net impact on the entire planet will be minimal.

The impact of the things listed in the article, all having to do with food consumed by humans and meat animals, is not what puts the planet's overall ecology at risk, really. It is population of humans that does that. If you want a relationship between food production and planet destruction, it is in the eaters, not the eaten. More eaters means more impact, in one way or another.

But fossil fuel burning is still the main impact humans have on the planet. That is the thing that really threatens, and that is population-based as well. The article is overstated and illogical, as I said earlier.