Column #232

It was 222 years ago when Thomas Robert Malthus published his economic theories that scared the pants off everyone. What he famously predicted, which was based on his sound logic, was that the improving living standards of that era would inevitably be reversed as the geometric growth of the world’s population would be restricted by arithmetically growing food production. In other words the world’s human population was going to outgrow its food production and end up poverty stricken.^{1 2}

The elders in our society are quite used to the demagoguery regarding the end of life as we know it. In the 1950s it was the certainty of nuclear war with Russia. In the 1970s there were predictions that oil would soon be priceless because the world’s petroleum reserves were rapidly being depleted. It was said that America would never again be able to produce enough fossil fuel to satisfy its own needs. The same end-of-oil argument surfaced again in 2000. Ironically, both times many geologists were saying there’s a lot more oil yet to be discovered. Today, there’s an oil glut!³

Also in the 1970s, because the world’s temperature had flatlined for 40 years, many mainstream media outlets were publicizing fears of global cooling. That really worried people because fossil fuel was a rapidly disappearing resource and colder temperatures would reduce food production. Yes, the media had people worried sick about global cooling while at the same time the majority of climatologists were actually predicting a continuation of the global warming trend that dated back to 1880. By 2019 the world’s average temperature was about 1.7°F higher than in the 1970s.^{4 5}

Certainly the world and its inhabitants face changing times. Yes, the climate will change. It always has and always will. Yet nature goes with the flow and for more than four million years even humans have exhibited remarkable flexibility in adapting to not only climate change but many different environments.⁶

There’s no doubt the climate is changing. Therefore, with a population of 7.8 billion people, mankind will have to be more innovative than ever to survive. But the world’s population has more to worry about than climate change even when that means rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, and more volatile weather. With thousands of daily international flights, the threat of worldwide pandemics, such as the current coronavirus outbreak, is a real concern. There’s also concern for the environment with plenty of blame being heaped on the finite supply of fossil fuels which creates two reasons for why new energy sources will eventually be required. And food will be an issue too, especially for producing the most nourishing foods since chronic diseases and healthcare costs are getting worse instead of better.

The changes that must be accomplished in how humans live and prosper will be generated by the same kind of innovation that has been going on for tens of thousands of years. If governments permit the marketplace to adjust and evolve with freely flowing ideas (governments only pass ridged laws) the changes that will occur during the next 50 years will be more amazing and faster paced than we’ve seen in the past 50 years. I could provide thousands, if not millions, of examples of technological improvements illustrating how mankind has improved life on this earth. But let’s just look at wind power.

Man has been harnessing wind power for thousands of years. It started with sailboats. Windmills for powering machinery go back 1,500 years. The first known wind turbine for producing electricity was built in Scotland in 1887. The first one in the United States was built in 1888. In 1975 the first wind farm in America was brought online, producing enough power for up to 4,149 homes. Today wind power provides 6.5% of the electricity generated in the USA. Hydropower provides 7% and nuclear power provides 19.4%. Fossil fuels only provide 63.6% of the electricity and its percentage continues to shrink.^{7 8}

Obviously the trend is for more environmentally friendly, renewable electrical power and there will soon be new generations of environmentally friendly nuclear power plants. In another 50 years fossil fuel generated electricity may be less than the 1.5% we get from solar power. And all these changes will come about in a way that the consuming public will hardly notice. They will just happen. For instance, well over half of the world’s current population has no memory of what it was like before cell phones and the Internet. And those developments occurred without government dictates.^{9 10}

Building codes for many lower lying coastal areas already require foundations to be many feet higher than those of surrounding buildings. More automobiles are being powered by electricity. Even electric airplanes are being developed for specialized purposes. And people are beginning to think more about being GREEN. All this bodes well for the progress to come in the next 50 years.

But there are some things that can’t change and the biggest one is nutrition. Humans, like nearly all other animals require Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) in equal balance with Omega-6 EFAs. People also require protein, fat, amino acids, minerals, vitamins and many other essential compounds that must come from the food they eat. That’s why without proper nutrients bodies and brains fail to function properly over time.¹¹

The best sources for the nutrients humans require are the green leafy vegetables and animals that have green leafy plant material at the bottom of their food chains. Nuts, seeds, grain, fruit, stems, and roots do not provide the full spectrum of nutrients in the density and balance that is available from green leaves. In addition, about 95% of plants in the world are inedible because of their natural protective toxins.¹²

I know that today’s mantra is to eat plants and ignore animal food products. But that message is just more of the misguided, media-based demagoguery that those of us with gray hair have experienced so many times before. What man ate for the past four million years is what he’ll still need to eat for many millenniums to come. Paying attention to that constant is the best way for humanity to reduce incidences of chronic disease and lower unsustainable healthcare costs.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don’t miss these links for additional reading:

1. Malthusian Theory of Population by Prateek Agarwal from Intelligent Economist

2. World Population Growth by Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina from Our World in Data

3. What Ever Happened To Peak Oil? by Michael Lynch from Forbes Magazine

4. The 1970s Global Cooling Zombie Myth and the Tricks Some People Use to Keep it Alive, Part I by David Kirtley from Skeptical Science

5. Climate Change: Global Temperature by Rebecca Lindsey and LuAnn Dahlman from NOAA Climate.gov

6. Pliocene Climate from Wikipedia

7. History of Wind Turbines by Zachary Shahan from Renewable Energy World

8. What is U.S. Electricity Generation by Energy Source?

9. Nuclear Energy and Sustainable Development from World Nuclear Association

10. The New, Safer Nuclear Reactors That Might Help Stop Climate Change by Leigh Phillips

11. The Importance of the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases by Dr. Artemis P. Simopoulos

12. Plants vs. Plant Eaters by Ted Slanker