 In the next 40 years, the world is going to need a 70 percent increase in food production to feed a population that will be billions larger and considerably wealthier than it is today. Where is that food going to come from? Dutch entomologist Marcel Dicke has at least a partial answer in the six-legged creatures we call insects. Take another look at the locust; Dicke thinks we should think of it as the “shrimp of the land,” a delicacy that people should prize. Four of every five people already eat insects intentionally and they’re prized as delicacies in China and Southeast Asia. Dicke showed a photo of his visit to Lijiang, China, where he ate caterpillars, locusts and bee pupae. The rest of us eat insects unintentionally. He pointed out that, in the United States, for example, a fair amount of insect content is legally allowed in food. Chocolate can have 60 insect components per 100 grams; peanut butter can have 30 insect parts for every 100 grams; fruit juice can have five fruitfly eggs and 1 to 2 larvae for every 250 milliliters. Insects are a particularly efficient crop. The same amount of feed can produce 9 times as much locust food as beef, Dicke said. That will come in handy because the world won’t only have more mouths to feed; those mouths will belong to people who are more affluent, and typically will eat more and demand more meat. The potential for the growth of livestock production is very limited, Dicke said. Why are many people in the west reluctant to eat insects? Dicke said it’s “a matter of mindset.” To help change that mindset, Dicke served insect-covered chocolate to moderator Bruno Giussani, the European director of TED, who first protested, “I’m on a diet” before giving one a try. Cookies topped with bugs were served in the break after Dicke’s speech. In the service of journalism, CNN’s team sampled them. Our review: sweet, crunchy - and nutritious. |
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LOL love all the coo=mments folkas
Hi, where can I subscribe to your blog site? I like it, thanksCu
Why can't we bake them, grind them into a powder, and mix them in a suitable proportion to other kinds of flour, especially wheat. Probably the powder would need to be bleached, as we do with flour.
There's a certain number of insects ground into our flour as it is. They cannot all be removed in the processing.
nope nope nope, no insect buffet. That's why you have money...
Articles like this really get under my skin. I think it is time for pay backs.
Does anyone have any honest, non-smartass recipies for those who are just starting out in trying these little suckers? Including where fresh, clean ones could be bought? Curious....
I think it would be interesting to try for sure. I think I might need a martini or two first, but if they were cleaned within an inch of their life and perhaps stirfried in a spicy sauce, they sound yum! Eating ants might not be so bad. Basically, as long as the "crop" were regulated somehow and cooking demonstrations were given, I'd give it a big go!!!
Scorpions taste really good and crunchy. Spiders taste like the sauce you dip them into and the hairs are not so nice. Centipedes taste not so good, because after cooking or roasting there is nothing left except for the outer shell, so its just crunch. Bugs and maggots taste a bit weird but with a good sauce quite acceptable. Grasshoppers I didn't try so far.
Anyway if you could buy scorpions (from a free-range-biological-fair-trade-scorpion-farm HAHA) in big bags like potato chips, they would be on my table all the time. :D
Griff is right Dennis, I still would much rather eat that hormone injected cow then the fleas that buzz around my dogs poop.
Though I don't have much of a problem with eating bugs, its sad that the human species has gone so low as to considering eating fleas and grasshoppers.
I think its oppressing to say the world needs less people, people only live for 100 years, and so what, you wan't white people to stop breeding and be out numbered more then we already are, and with no young generation?
I think its better to think with more people. more work can be done, and you can always build into the sky... Barring 9/11 hijackers, or drill into the ground,
Yo Curt, white people aren't outnumbering anyone. It just depends on where you are. Sure, in america white people outnumber the other races, but if you go to other places like Egypt, or China, its not white majority. Its not that there should be less Whites, but also Blacks, Asians, native Americans(though there aren't much of them compared to other ethnicities) etc....
He said to eat the watermelon Hind, But I don't wan't parasites and I'm sure it tastes like cardboard.
Rectal-Mometer Did you just tell a chick to cut off her ass and then eat it?
Curt I'm guessing thats a joke man. Cause it won't work.
Yeah its a joke I don't think women will be up for that.. but... What if we made clones with genetically modified boobs
Well first of all. A woman gets pregnant before her breasts can give milk. And we already have too many people as is.......... We need to change our habits. Such as when you eat a watermelon. You know that the skin can be eaten too? Very healthy and taste fine.
Ill leaving eating bugs for the people that wan't to do it... Try to avoid it as much as I can although I know its used as coloring and unless you have a list of every chemical your not going to realize it before you purchase something.
Mmmm wouldn't you want a McDonald's MosquitoMeal?
Ever think about drinking a girl's breast milk for the food shortage ? Maybe label the bottles for the different girls it came from with a picture hahah.
That's a story CNN should cover, could have a bunch of woman with bigs cans in the background.
The rest of us eat insects unintentionally. He pointed out that, in the United States, for example, a fair amount of insect content is legally allowed in food. Chocolate can have 60 insect components per 100 grams; peanut butter can have 30 insect parts for every 100 grams; fruit juice can have five fruitfly eggs and 1 to 2 larvae for every 250 milliliters.
Thanks I don't think I'll have chocolate and think twice about the fruit drink ....
its topic's like this that create Bulimia...
Really U.S. should have stricter standards but corporate america don't care, its about fast money.
interesting debate...!
To summarize:
We human kind need to...
1. control over population in a better way
2. Can eat insects if their originality is changed (spice it up)
then..
stop owning pets...in US alone we have 77.5 million dogs and 99.3 million cats...when people think over-population is the main cause for food shortage..then why the hell we breed those many pet animals that will make food shortage even worse
- my 2 cents
Hey, what happened to plants? can't I eat those instead? I'm perfectly happy to become a vegetarian when the apocolypse arrives. hee hee
is there any kind of SAUCE go with the bugs ! ?
They are NOT kosher! I could not even look at the picture attached to the story. In biology class when it came to insects I had to cover up the page. Couldn't do it, wouldn't do it and would rather starve than do that!! YUK double YUK
They should make Dog Food out of insects. It's rediculous that we are raising Chicken, Lambs, Beef for dogs. If we can harvest meat at 9x better than beef, do we really need to sell $1.50 cans of Pedigree to make our pet dogs happy? Dogs have the brain size of a walnut happy? As for the owners that pay $1.50 a can for Pedigree um... I will be diplomatic and stop :)
great point !!
There are an estimated 1,462 species of recorded edible insects including arachnids. Eating bugs is not only environmentally and economically beneficial but also nutritionally. It can best be understood with a comparative breakdown of cricket to beef. 100 grams of cricket contains 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.5 g. fat, 5.1 g. carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 9.5 mg. iron, 3.10 mg. niacin, 1.09 mg. riboflavin, 185.3 mg. phosphorous, and 0.36 mg. thiamine. By comparison ground beef contains more protein (23.5 g./100g.), but also has 288.2 calories, almost three times the amount of crickets, and a whopping 21.2 grams of fat, almost four times the amount of crickets! There is no doubt we will need to eat other food sources in order to survive. For more information visit http://www.insectsarefood.com/index.php
IdiotDennis, there is more to food that nutritional value, things like TASTE !
think about it, please
Hi Griff,
Try French cooking for these .... they can make anything taste good
Ive actually eaten bugs and they taste pretty good. I tried grilled tree larva and it wasnt too different from chicken skin. Larvas have too much fat tho, so i recommend grasshoppers!
Nicely done. In my research in the western Amazon, there are 3.2 x 10 (to the 10th power) insects and their realtives per hectare. There are 17 billion hectares in the Amazon Basin, do math! That is al lot of food on the hoof. Keep the forests, harvest the protein!
Okay, I'll bite. Dennis, what is your daily bug intake?
Well I very much enjoyed reading all of the comments and posts so far.
Made me quite hungry
I love shrimp, lobster and crab, so I suspect I will like many different kinds of insects
I think I will do a little research and find out what tasty insects are growing in my back yard.
Seems like a great way to add diversity to my diet.
I enjoy being an omnivore.
I wonder how representative the comments here are of the human population in general.
If it is, it’s quite scary.
A few brief gems of insight and understanding amongst a lot of ignorance, reminds me of Jay Leno's man on the street scenes.
A few comments of my own:
I am a US citizen and I speak English.
America is a set of continents North/Central/South not a county or language.
There is a country in North America called the United States of America
I pledge allegiance to the UNITED STATES of AMERICA
Columbians, Mexicans, Panamanians and Canadians are all Americans
Humans are not the only conscious entities on the planet earth.
I can not speak for non mammals, but I strongly believe to the point of "knowing" that mammals like Whales, Seals, Dolphins, Cats, Dogs, Horses, etc are conscious entities.
I feel like the planet is over-populated, but this maybe just because I live in between Philly and New York.
I suspect that humans taste like pork not chicken, why? A chicken is a bird, a pig is a mammal and is said to be very much like a human from a physiological point of view.
Being a simple animal, I believe when stressed that I would eat anything to survive and procreate like rabbits.
I am not stressed, so I enjoy eating what I enjoy and having multiple serial monogamous sexual partners without adding more hungry resource depleting humans to the planet.
It bothers me when humans choose to have more children than two per family, but that is my feeling and I have no right in imposing my feelings on others.
I am very grateful for what I have and enjoy and I am trying to reduce, recycle and reuse.
I believe that regardless of whether or not we change to a more sustainable way of life, that the complex interrelated systems on the earth (Gaia) will self correct in the long term, it may be that we are just not part of the long term system.
I wish that we would expand into the solar system, so that the human species existence was not dependant on the success of the least common denominator, i.e. the mob decision process.
I wish us all luck!
With more food means even more population which will conclude with more starving. So now with insects we will have 15 billion people on the planet instead of 7. Great.
Like the article says, I am sure that we ALREADY eat plenty of bugs in the products that we buy. If for some reason that number should increase, I would be okay with it, as long as I did not know about it. Finally a good reason for the existance of roaches and mosquites.
Talking about overpopulation, I wish TLC, etc. would stop showing stupid shows like "19 Kids and Counting" about American religious kooks who keep reproducing while getting publicity at the same time – ugh!
they should cut off mr. duggar's penis and plug her vagina with play-doh
I've always thought of Lobster as "sea roaches." UGLY as all hell. I do eat the buggers.
As an entomologist, it occurs to me that if people knew more about insects they eat them more readily. They're quite good! Really!
Know any good bug restaurants?
MacCricket with fries.
Well Rectal; (don't think I've ever called anyone that before), I am not sure I could reach my butt and I was obviously just being tongue and cheek about my arm. And yes; since I weigh about 750 pounds, I could feast off of my own body for a very long time providing I was able to stop the bleeding along the way. Hey; that might make an interesting movie. You know us Americans; fat, stupid and always looking to make a buck from a bad movie idea. Wow. And for the record, I am not even slightly overweight. Hard to believe me being an American and all.
what does human pee-pee tast like anybody??
and Loriel just how would you eat the flesh off your own arm?? just bite a chunk raw?? you probably should chomp on a more *unnecessary* portion of your carcass, like YOUR BUTT!!! probably lotsa fat and excess flesh THERE if you're like most Americans–flabby and obese!! LOL
Why are you picking on her...she didn't do anything wrong..She is just stating her opinion.
It's a figure of speech. New to English?
Did you just tell a chick to cut off her ass and then eat it?
Well; the picture of the assorted scorpions on sticks don't do anything to "open my mind" to the eating of insects. However; until any of us are actually starving to death, you have no idea what you would eat. People have eaten dirt and human waste in desperation so I am sure most of us would eat an insect if faced with the same thing. Until that time, I think I would eat the flesh off of my own arm first.
Because your worth it.
are there "gay bugs" ?? or are they the ones that fly into the lights? haha
Maladjusted ..
Scorpion = Land Lobster: count the legs
Didn't the human species evolve so we don't have to eat things that actively seek out poop?
Em,
Have we really evolved, or merely adapted?
We've evolved from our common ancestor with chimpanzees. Other great apes have longer digestive tracts, more jaw muscles, and larger molars for eating and digesting tougher jungle vegetation. Humans have evolved for eating the wide variety of meats, fruits, veggies, roots, nuts, etc available across multiple terrains in Eastern Africa (jungle, savanna, coast. mountains). We are generalists.
No, humans evolved to eat things that don't require a lot of time to digest (like wood and tough leaves). One reason we've spread out over most of the globe is that we can eat a wide variety of foods.
...including Pee-Pee!! with a few ice cubes....mmmm! like lemonade–just add some brown sugar!
I guess that's why I like trail mix so much, it's the inbred attraction to roughage.
You're not going to live another 40yrs.....don't worry about it...
A viable solution for feeding the over-crowded masses has already been proposed: soylent green.
I had uncooked scallops, or oysters, and I must say that they were delicious. The mixture of sweet and salty with a hint of butter, although they were not buttered. Anyway, they are very bug like in there construction and I imagine tasty surprises await us with the land dwelling bugs.
:o
I heard human meat tastes like pig. Makes sense because we are pigs. :O
Except for those of us who are chicken ! :)
I had my first meal of insects in China in 1994 served as a stir-fry of large grasshoppers. I think our Chinese hosts were trying to test us. My Brit colleague wouldn't touch them and voiced only warnings of our fine fare. I'm afraid I made a bit of a pig of myself. Word arrived back at Houston before me about my cuisine adventures, but it was all positive feedback.
Lot of Chinese people eat bugs, still I don't see them a lot on fear factor.
If the world is ever forced to a diet of bugs, Gene Simmons should have no trouble catching his own.
I know how to save a few bucks now. Quit buying some RAID and just catch and fry the Cockroaches. Mmmmm.
I remember my friend was eating some nuts. He told me they were really good and offered me some. I declined and later we found out the nuts had some flour bug larvae. Even though I don't have a problem with trying bugs(with something like chocolate), I'm glad i declined.
I wonder how the "McRoach" would go over?
pupae = protein = yuck.
I think the only way most americans would eat insects is if they were processed (like spam) and then given a meat-like consistancy. I would eat a burrito with meat-shaped and textured processed insect product in it. Hell, I already eat burritos with "textured vegetable protein."
Btw Griff, how do you find popcorn in the woods? Just asking.....
guess I got a bit carried away.....I find it in the grocery store
So who is still against Abortion?
A strawberry is like a hundred abortions at once.
Pomegranates.
Mom taught me never to eat the raisin bran if the raisins are moving. I'm sticking with that plan. Always listen to your mother.
THE ONLY SENSIBLE SOLUTION TO WORLD FOOD NEEDS
They have no cholesterol, are an excellent source of protein, are low in fat and calories, are extraordinarily abundant and are everywhere. The people who try them say they can be delicious.
But for me, it's still a longshot. I'm sure I eat my share in the veggies I consume.
If I were desperate and starving? You bet I would eat bugs (but would prefer them cooked). I'm sure that bugs kept many Cambodians alive during their horrible Pol Pot regime, who would otherwise have perished from starvation.
If I were stuck out in the woods with no food, I would make myself eat them. When you're starving...the entire world looks "different" to you. sanjosemike
"I'm sure that bugs kept many Cambodians alive during their horrible Pol Pot regime". Wow, that's pretty random.
Btw CurryAndSpice many plants are eaten, the whole thing not just the fruit, get an education you moron.
Ground beef looks like worms. I'd imagine that ground worms in the shape of a patty would be hard to distinguish from a beef burger. Add cheese and.....mmmmmmmmm...
Andrew,
Have you ever tried Banana slugs, they're quite tasty sauteed in butter and garlic.
I must try. Where? If they had them in my grocer's freezer...
Yeah, but if they're like snails you have to flavor them to the moon and back. Otherwise it's like eating a pencil eraser.
Nature's supermarket. They thrive in northern California forests and the Pacific Northwest. Four inches long and as big around as a hotdog. (but they don't plump when you cook 'em !). :)
Griff you know that most mushrooms are poisonous? That explains why many people in France die after eating mushrooms they find. Now the chocolate fleas are looking good aren't they ;)
But some mushrooms aren't poisonous. If you educate yourself and avoid species that have poisonous lookalikes, it's perfectly safe to harvest wild mushrooms and plants.
Thanks Shannon but I'll take my chances with the bugs. ;) Though I admit I've never tried bugs knowingly(unless u count lobsters, shrimp, and crabs) but they sound okay.
I wish people would quit telling my man Bob that heeds to be educated !
We need more French people to eat mushrooms then : )
Eating bugs can be very bad for your health. very very bad. Many bugs have disease.
And eating beef that's been fed beef in an overcrowded feedlot is healthy?
But many bugs don't carry diseases, and if you cook them, it kills any parasites they might have. It's no different than pork or chicken. A lot more people safely eat bugs regularly than eat cows or pigs or chickens.
Nukemall says that bugs carry disease.
sanjosemike responds:
Some do, but the greatest majority do not. Some wild locusts carry tapeworm, but all you have to do is cook or roast them thoroughly over a campfire...no problem....
I certainly wouldn't eat pediculosis capitus (head lice), but they wouldn't provide much nourishment anyway, being too small. (Did I make some of you curl your toes?)
Bottom line: Bombardier beetles have parts of their bodies that produce acid. And some centipedes are poisonous. (Not all). By far, the greatest numbers of insects are quite edible...especially after being cooked. sanjosemike
AAAH, Tapeworm, the perfect diet partner; eat what you want and never gain a pound ! They actually were used at one time for that very purpose.
If they can make a burger out of soy, and are able to make burgers out of insects so we don't know they're insects I'm all for it.
I suggest we all reread Jonathan Swift's very satirical essay entitled "A Modest Proposal," then come back to this discussion of overpopulation.
Nothing doing...I have enough trouble with cholestrol as it is.
What the heck...why not? I've eaten snails before...once. They are not slimy, but the real problems with them is they are very rubbery and they have no flavor of their own. No ants, though. Way too sour.
Griff your right, we should stick to those pen held, hormone injected cows. Mmmm.
do what I do...live off the land....I live in the woods, eat what I can...raccoon, squirrel, monkey, whatever I can find...mushrooms (well, lots of them), corn, popcorn, beans.
Hakuna Matata gents.
LMAO Aaron.
I learned an important lesson many years ago in CT. Gypsy Months in the year 1980 had a population explosion for some unknown reason. Their caterpillar offspring ate everything and I mean everything. The entire landscape in north Central Connecticut was completely denuded... it looked like winter in mid-summer. I remember standing under a maple and hearing a sound like rain (caterpillar poop raining down). When they finished off the deciduous Maples, Oaks, etc. they moved on to pine trees! It killed the pines but a month or so later most of the deciduous trees managed another "spring" and sent out new leaves. The following year there were 0 gypsy months, nada, none.
And your point is?
LETS ALL BECOME VEGETARIANS AND EAT PLANTS WHICH ISN'T KILLING RIGHT? OH YEAH, I FORGOT, PLANTS ARE LIVING. SO WHERE IS YOUR CASE YOU FILTHY MURDERERS?
lighten up there Bob....no more coffee for you
To kill an animal that can feel pain is VERY different from killing a plant. Also, you don't have to kill the plant, you take the fruit of the plant you moron. Get an education.
CurryAndSpice just because plants don't make a sound doesn't mean they don't feel pain. Go back to school and get an education you moron.
there have been studies that show plants sending out electric impulses when a nearby plant is pulled from the ground...how do you know plants "don't feel pain"? maybe we just don't yet have the technology to tap into what a plant might actually feel? what will all the vegatarians/vegans do if we do indeed discover plants DO feel pain?
OH NOES, NOT MY COFFEE.
As any serious cyclist (read: frequently rides with mouth open) will tell you , unintentional consumption of flying insects is part of the sport. Upside: good source of protein. Downside: still alive, and you don't get to savor the flavor or the crunchy texture, as they tend to go right to the back of your mouth and down the gullet.
Chicks dig me.....if I was dating a chick that ate bugs, I might pop a few...but just
for the chick
We Americans don't eat bugs becasue we are raised with the cultural assumption that they are unclean, alien and "gross", and becasue we don't have too. We are fortunate enough to live in a country with enough land, water and wealth to eat higher on the food chain. FUnny stuff wrote that he thinks we can no longer "afford" meat, actually the problem for other is we CAN. People in countries with limits on water and land would like to see us eat lower on the food chain, so that our production could increase, and we could feed them. I don't think that will work – it is hard enough to get people to make small sacrifices to benefit theur neighbors – these changes require the wealthy nations to make major sacrafice to benifit strangers, some of whom are enemies.
no Thank you
If I were desperate I would. I hate eating things that are mostly whole/as they were in life. This extends to things like shellfish and even wings.plus it just seems like it would be an awful crunchy/gooey texture.
A lot of people like a crunchy-gooey texture. It's all in your cultural conditioning. I love potato chips. I understand in Mexico they serve seasoned toasted grasshoppers that are a lot like Nachos. They're called Chapolines. I've heard that some may have lead contamination (from unknown sources). However, they are supposed to be fabulous tasting. sanjosemike
Eating or not eating bugs for fun is a different thing. As for food and food shortage there is still enough food in this world to feed everyone and the hundry especially only if we do not waste and do not over buy to waste there is enough and will be enough in future as well. The same is for water. Then comes conservation and good practices, with increasing population and demand these measures have to be taken seriously though.
Most human starvation is not caused by "lack of food growth." In most cases is is a matter of political, economic and military control by corrupt leaders and warlords. This has nothing to do with food, and everything to do with power and corruption. sanjosemike
only the damn foreigners would eat that crap.....here, where we speak American, I just don't think so,
let's stick to cows please
The answer is simple – GO VEGETARIAN – I don't have to worry about food running out because I GROW most of it in my backyard. I don't have to KILL any living entities and I am eating a healthier diet than the majority of you KILLING and EATING animals. IF YOU EAT A COW, THAT IS NO DIFFERENT FROM EATING A BUCKET OF CRICKETS IN MY BOOK – LIFE IS LIFE AND YOU ARE TAKING IT. So, if meat runs out, you better not have a problem eating insects.
Plants are alive and when you eat them they die.
Touche'
I am also a vegan vegetarian, but I recognize that for many people in the world, food is a matter of "what is available and what they can afford." To some extent, ethical vegetarianism is elitist and arrogant. That said, it is still possible to grow enough soy to obliterate human starvation, if they fed it to humans rather than farm animals.
Asian populations have long since understood the power of soy protein to feed humans. But surely insect protein is a good solution to starvation. I'm sure that insects saved the lives of many people who were being starved, like the Chinese and Cambodians during the Communist eras. sanjosemike
Mmmm Hannah, want some salsa dipped fingers?
What's all this about insects World War III and 2012 will solve everything not to worry. We should at least leave the bugs the place after nuclear war so selfish of us killing them too.
OK, here's the solution: those "four out of every five" who eat insects now, continue doing so and are banned from eating any other animal – those who don't eat insects now, can eat meat if they choose to.....
whew! problem solved!
It's almost lunch! I've packed leftover "flaming cricket quiche" a robust larve shake and a roll of Ritz crackers... Everything's better when it sits on a ritz!
People in general; love to jump on 'bandwagons'. It makes em' feel good to be part of group; even if it's partly group hysteria. There is already too much food: It just isn't dispersed. All that food that "western" countries throw away is more than enough to feed the needy – we just need a system to get it there. 'People', by the way, are part of the ecology. We are animals. Why do we have a pervading 'group-think' that human-beings are totally separate from all other nature? Was inventing 'fire' or the 'wheel' the end of our 'nature'? Why is there such a hostility for 'man' in general: But all animals are precious? We have made extrodinary accomplishments............all of you who write about your disgust about the complexities of what humans have done to our earth are enjoying the fruits thereof. You're on your damn computer! There are no great thinkers, scientists, doctors, and architects, who sit around and whine. They are doers. There is plenty of food and immeasurable land area that has never been used for agriculture. Part of ecology is that it is always in flux. Man lives longer and better than he ever has. 'Man' needs to begin to rejoice in our goodness and our accomplishments more; instead of harping so much on how great (other) animals are. Go have a drink of fresh water and think about how GRATEFUL you should be to be able to enjoy that as much as you want.
Mike
I also imagine it would be much easier to sustain bugs on space stations. Imagine growing beef on the International Space Station? Bugs are the way to go. A little soy sauce and EAT!
The answer is simple people – GO VEGETARIAN -
If we all went vegetarian, that'll surely destroy the earth, 'cos if we're getting the veggies, the cow and other herbivores should better forget eating anything with the colour green, and the amazon had better get ready for us...........yes, definitely everyone going vegan is the way.
Completely rejecting the idea of eating anything nutritious is just dumb. People need to see past their own cultural norms and unsupportable assumptions. For ex; I have two dogs, and I see them as food storage as much as I do as pets. Mmm . . Gusburgers . .
Call me a wuss but I would never eat my dog. I would share my feet with my dog though.
this is all about trying to get middle class america accustomed to the idea we can no longer afford meat
The case for eating insects is well enough presented. Here is the primary case against eating insects: Eeooh. Gross.
WHAT??!!!! Bugs have the RIGHT to LIVE FREE and not be persecuted by humans!!!
How dare this article suggest we eat them!
.......unless of course they really do taste like chicken, then I'm firing up my Weber grill and having everyone on this thread over to my place for a BBQ. Let's get this party started!
BYOB (bring your own bugs)
mmmmmmmmmmm....grilled bugs.........mmmmmmmmmmm.
LMAO
I could eat bugs, no problem at all. I mean...after the zombie apocalypse it's either brains or whatever you can find.
The only way I would ever eat an insect intentionally was if I was going to starve to death. Thats just gross. I absolutely detest scorpions and I am allergic to bee's so thats out.
Oh come on.... leave the insects alone.
I am sure some ginius will figure out a way to grow food in air, snowy terrain, permafrost etc... and that might increase the rate of population growth. When these means would not be sufficient, we have 8 other planets and a lot of satellites to exploit and ruin. Overpopulation, no such thing .........
pretty sure even the biggest "ginius" (genius)? can't figure out how to defy nature and make a plant with no available nutrients with which to feed said plant. Can't grow something from nothing.
Yeah sure, a perfectly safe and green way.
Eat bugs? Sure, after I first go through a lifetime's-length list of amazing entrees and desserts from the following cuisines: Italian, Chinese, French, Mexican, Cuban, Spanish, Peruvian, Brazilian, Thai, Japanese, German, Swedish, Indian, Polish, Danish, Finnish, Hawaiian, Columbian, Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, Icelandic, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Iranian, Korean, Russian, Tibetan ...
Some of those cuisines you listed have dishes that contain insects.
Well, you should know if you are allergic to shellfish you will probably be allergic to insects as well.
Whoa, there, Kevin. Get ahold of yourself. Let me guess... you have anger issues.
Anyone else remember Creepy Crawlers? Just pop them in the oven for a bit, and voila! Only they're creepier and crawlier without the neon rubber...
THAT'S JUST DISGUSTING!!! I WILL NEVER EVER EAT BUGS IF I COULD HELP IT!!!
Two words....Soylent Green. "Make room, make room!"
How about human birth control instead of eating bugs?
What?! Birth control?! Where did you get such a novel idea?! Sheer genius...let's start working on developing this whole birth control thing, this is gonna be huge! Why we could do pills, little rubber sleeves (what should we call them?)...
oh wait...
Tastes like chicken... Seriously, though. I've eaten fried grasshoppers, chocolate covered ants, etc. Tasted okay. But what are we going to do when we've eaten more insects than the planet can produce? Could happen–what with the use of dioxin and other pesticides and chemicals. It's all ready killing off the bees. Why can't humans practice birth control? Why must our population expand like... insects? We are outstipping our food supply, something lower mamals might do. And we know what happens to them. They die of starvation. Why is population control never talked about anymore? Why don't humans use their brains instead of their loins?
bee pupae – so that explains it. No wonder bees are disappearing from this planet.
Instead of trying to find increasingly clever ways to support an ever growing population who is still consuming finite resources; perhaps our time and ingenuity would be better invested in learning how to live off world so we can spread out.
LOL at TEDsters demonstrating again how delusional they are. The world's poor try to get wealthy and adopt a first world lifestyle so they don't have to eat bugs.
Bugs are a delicacy in many parts of the world. Go to China. You'll see people in Beijing or Shanghai shopping at expensive luxury stores and then stopping at a food stall for a snack of scorpions or crickets. Bugs are even a delicacy among rich Americans. They're called lobster, crab, and shrimp.
Natural Red #4 anyone?
This common dye used in food and cosmetics is pretty much crushed and cooked bugs, with a little alum thrown in.
And its "all natural" and "organic" too! Sounds yummy! LOL
I'll bet you all have been eating bugs for years without knowing it!
Yep- red skittles, red sprinkles/jimmies/whatever you call them, red m&m's probably...BUGS. num num num. Pink candies too.
I want to know why some people simply couldn't... vegetarian? vegan? or just plain grossed out? Insects are om nom nom.
I'm vegetarian, I don't even use bug spray to get rid of pests...I could never eat bugs or let alone meat...
Because eating vegetables is murder! How many innocent plants must you slaughter?
The real travesty here is a lot of vegetarians don't even kill the plant before they eat it! How barbaric? Imagine the pain...
Ok, I'm game to try anything once, but what about a couple of important items; 1.) Have any studies been done regarding food allergies related to insects? 2.) What is the nutritional value of lets say a grass hopper? Insects as a source of food is a no brainer, but lets get serious and start performing some real science on this alternative or addition to our daily intake.
100 grams of cricket contains: 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.5 g. of fat, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 185.3 mg. of phosphorous, 9.5 mg. of iron, 0.36 mg. of thiamin, 1.09 mg. of riboflavin, and 3.10 mg. of niacin (source: The Manataka American Indian Council)
Here is a CRAZY idea.. instead of trying to find ways to feed a billion more people.. WHY DONT WE TRY AND FIND WAYS TO START CONTROLLING POPULATION GROWTH! Our planet simply cannot sustain more people. Third world countries need to start taking responsibility for the breeding habits of their poor.
Yeah cause telling people not to have sex is going to go over really well. And these poor countries can of course TOTALLY AFFORD to provide birth control to everyone.
People reproduce, it's the way of the world. Resources are just poorly allocated right now- there's enough, but it's in the wrong places (often being thrown away too).
GO VEGAN !!!
I'd rather eat these bugs than go vegan.
How dare you! Eating mushrooms is murder!
"Chocolate can have 60 insect components per 100 grams; peanut butter can have 30 insect parts for every 100 grams; fruit juice can have five fruitfly eggs and 1 to 2 larvae for every 250 milliliters."
Yeah, thanks for sharing.
mmmm peanut butter, jelly, and bug sandwiches.
Red dye #4. That'll ruin some favorite foods for ya too. Enjoy!
The article mentions that food to feed a lot of cattle could produce 9 times more locust. Assuming the article is talking about bulk weight, I am curious if this equates to 9 times the protein as beef. And is there any companies working on turning bugs into fake meat products like bacon or hamburger?
That'll be awesome. Not for vegans tho!
"In the next 40 years, the world is going to need a 70 percent increase in food production to feed a population that will be billions larger and considerably wealthier than it is today."
I doubt that...
This is just news to fill some material. We never will have to need food we don't like. If any the perception of looming shortage of food is a case for Biologically modified food which are having tough times to enter markets.
See the book "Extreme Cuisine"
I might try some bugs on my PB&J instead of potato chips, I may need a little salt though...
I am considering stir frying some larvae for lunch today
The Laosians think ant egs are quite nice.
the planet won't hold too much more population growth and yet we have total idiots like the Duggars having 19 kids!! they are so selfish and short sighted and yet people actually celebrate these morons!!
But we celebrate them by giving them and others TV time with either their own show or a story on the news/magazines, etc...
"Bob
The earth only has one problem really, too many people."
Bob, you hit the nail of all nails squarely on the head. The truth is that the majority of our problems stem from being out of harmony with our natural environment: the various ecosystems found throughout the planet. We live via artificial means that are unsustainable in the long run. These include those brought about unintentionally by the Green Revolution earlier in the 20th Century. By heralding imported, artificial fertilizers and pestisides, we've created too much cheap food, which in turn has enabled the survival of too many people. The Earth's resources are taxed, and there are now, and will continue to be in the future, devastating environmental, social, and physiological consequences. We can control the population (and ultimately our human-derived problems) in one of two ways: via ignorance or via education. Ignorance breeds hatred which ultimately leads to violence. Violence serves to lower population. Ignorance also taxes and destroys our natural habitat, that which provides us our resources in the first place. A dearth of resouces and anthropogenically-induced climate change in the context of a massive human population will inevitably lead to death on a massive scale, ultimately lowering the human population. Also, the increase in population and thus proximity will allow disease to flourish on a massive scale, increasing the likelihood pandemics of epic proportions. Education, on the other hand, will provide a benign solution to our human problem. By educating people to the benefits of having fewer children (i.e. 2 on average...one to replace each parent), being cooperative and tolerant of people's individualistic differences (i.e. freedom to do as one pleases...so long as it doesn't hurt others or destory the shared environment), and living more simply and within one's means, we'll have a smaller human population with a higher quality of life. All the other life on Earth will reap the benefits of us coming back into harmony with nature, as well. The insight of realizing that sustainable systems of energy sourcing and production are needed is a huge step towards a sustainable future. But maintaining a sustainable human population within the context of Earth's fragile ecosystems is the most important step.
Over-population is a myth. There is PLENTY of unused land all over the world. The only problem is population density – there are far too many people in cities all over the world. As far as your 'anthropogenically-induced climate change', if it goes far enough, there will be another entire continent (Antarctica) available for us to populate.
Ok, Howie we get it. You are one of those people who could be trapped in a car sinking in a lagoon and denying the reality of it all the way down. Everything's fine! Just pretend like there isn't a problem. All that water rushing into the car is natura......glub glub glub..
If stupid people stopped breeding this wouldn't be an issues. I'm not having kids, yet my environmentally wacky friends all are. Ironic that their "want" outweighed their beliefs, as is the entire problem. Greed. I want I want I want. Well you greedy bastards, each kid you have is going to have more kids, causing generations of pollution and unnecessary landfill. Please stop slowly killing all of us us because you want a boy, or a girl, etc. etc. Your family is NOT cute and you're genes are not that special. YOU ARE A CANCER.
It's the stupid who are doing most of the breeding. 1st world, educated people are the ones controlling their own contribution to the population.
I'm a vegan, so my answer is obviously no. However, if I still at meat I would be willing to give it a shot.
Eating tomatoes is murder!
Salad only? But momy you promised I could eat Meat today. Wah Wah Wah
Eat meat Salad Sucks.
consider: if you have not seen someone eat a shrimp or crab, how would you regard those alien-looking critters that feed on rotting, submerged corpses? i ate insects as a regular part of my diet, while living in southeast asia. generally, the fried locusts taste like a mouthful of dried leaves. some of the pupae have more substance, since they are boiled.
i think that entomophagy would be more easily welcomed by western culture if they were not 'featured' on the dinner table. for instance, cooked locusts could be pulverized and added to sauces, flours, spices, etc. the nutritional value makes it worthwhile to consider!
dan
At some point in the future bugs will be all that's left on earth, so let's get our revenge now. I personally love ants, scorpions and crickets. If they were more readily available and safe to eat, I'd do it everyday. I've actually been thinking about it more these days...
Think of the money we could save!
If they are worried about food shortages, then everyone should grow a garden. Problem solved and the bugs live.
Maria, I could not agree with you anymore. I am growing my own vegetables and also getting lot of exercise. Eat healthy and stay fit.
Maria what if someone lives in an apartment?
There are many edible wild plants in every area of the country. Google 'foraging'.
I could do it, but I would need a major bug chef to start me off. If you try one bug, and it tastes bad, that is going to turn you off from it. I got a few guys together at my work to eat some bugs with me once, just to try out this topic. We wanted to see if we could enjoy them, so we could save money on other foods... We bought mealworms, and we each tried one. Nobody got sick, but they did not taste good at all. Probably the worst part was the shells of the mealworms, I personally couldn't chew that and had to spit it out. I am all for the idea, after all, there are plenty of bugs out there... But again, I would need to learn the right way to cook them first. Get me a cookbook, and I will see what I can do.
People in Sweden eat Horses.
If raising insect farms for food is nutritious, better for the Earth, and can feed more people, I am totally for it.
For the people who agrue the Earth is overpopulated...how dare you? You are alive today and everyone Earth has the right to their share of life under the sun. You are not better than anyone else on Earth.
Underwriter you need to drink your own Pee-Pee and ... extirpate!
Maybe people should just quite reproducing so much. It would solve the food problem, among others.
*quit, not quite
Doug,
Every single living organism on Earth has been hardwired with the desire to reproduce.
The Earth has the ability to sustain much much more people than it has today.
If only Americans can stop CONSUMING and WASTING so much of the Earth's resources, the World will be a lot better off.
Yes, go research the size of a typical American's carbon footprint!
Yes, if we all lived like those poor slobs in Ethiopia or Mongolia.
Every country in the world should institute a limit of 1 child. After the first child, both parents should be mandatorily neutered just like we do to our pets. No if's, and's or but's. No exceptions. That is the only solution to the world's burgeoning population crisis.
kajdaski I have some problems with my dick chopped off, don't know about you.
Not knocking eating bugs, heck if you eat crab or shrimp or lobster, you're pretty much just eating bugs that live in the water. We need to stop having so many people on the dang planet though.
Thanks for ruining peanut butter and fruit juice for me Dicke. You douchebag!
Thanks, but I had an apple on the train...:)
Insects are also an ideal diet because they are high in protein and low fat! Humans have been eatng them since the dawn of time. They are way more natural for us to eat than an oversized, over bred fatty cow (hunter gatherers would have eaten caribou or the like in migratory seasons but they have way less fat than cows). I think you could make some interesting gourmet dishes with insects. Of course eating them plain off the stick would not fly with most westerners (no pun intended).
I think for flys you would need toothpicks or smaller.
It's Bush's fault, according to CNN everything that has ever happened or will happen is Bush's fault, and CNN's idol,Odumba will fix it,lmao
Hypocrite much? Aren't you doing the exact same thing with this random jab at Obama. To include mocking his name a la Rush Limbaugh?
Another Tea-Bagger who's trying to shove Obama into everything he can. Way to be on topic man.
Odumba? You must have come up with that yourself because its way too stupid to ever catch on.
I have no problem with it, but it's funny... The whole "we'll be eating bugs in 20 years because population is growing, meat is inefficient..." argument was given when I was but a wee lad... over 30 years ago. Funny that.
I am 51, in a HS English class we covered over population for a semester and were told the same thing too John. Timing is off but eventually we will certainly be too many for Earth to feed us all. Hell if we run out of oil we are too many now.
I don't know that I entirely agree. It's not necessarily a bad assumption that population may lead to the eventual need for Westernized societies to eat insects, but it's not necessarily a good one, and it's certainly not a factual certainty.
Some things to consider:
1. The primary reason we're not starving now, as previously predicted, is improvements and advancements in agriculture. We're still making said scientific improvements.
2. Going forward, many countries' populations (Westernized ones, specifically) are actually declining. Overall population is slated to grow, but the rate is decreasing.
It's almost like saying "the world will end next week!" At some point, the prediction will be true, but that doesn't mean there's any merit to a specific instance of the prediction. Likewise, to say "we'll be over-populated and everyone will eat insects" has some likelihood, in the abstract, of being true, but not in a meaningful way.
BUT I would definately eat a bug before a HUMAN BEING you sickos.
Oh Hanna lighten up, this has already been done in desperate times. We do what we must to survive, the weak of heart will die, the strong will survive...or we will kill off all humans and the world will be a better place without us.
Terri – without humans, the only conscious entity on the planet, how will the world know it's better off?
Now...if I were you, my answer would be..."conscious entity – have you perused the 'People of Wal Mart' website lately?"
I am having rare fun on CNN this morning....
LOL, yes I have ventured on to the people of Wal-Mart site...it is the most frightening site on the web. *wink* As for Earth needing a concious entity to go on, I really don't think so. The Earth has always been able to take care of herself, we only damage the Earth. I am not a "tree hugger", just callin' it as I personally see it.
Yes it is nice to be having fun this morning.
You know how people say that certain foods taste of chicken? Well, wouldn't it be sad for you if insects taste of humans?
I bet people meat is quite tasty, considering all the salt and fat that is consumed.. Wait a minute.. I think I found a solution for our chronically obese population..
You are SICK!!!!!!!!!!
Human meat is too tough and tasteless.
I hear liver is delicious with some fava beans and a nice Chianti
I'D RATHER STARVE BEFORE EATING HUMANS OR BUGS! SEEING THAT PICTURE GROSSED ME OUT COMPLETELY. i CANT even think or see the bugs. For one would even eat a scorpion or cockroach! oh my. im sickened!
More for me he! he!
C'mon I know you want some ;)
If locust tastes like shrimp... i'll eat 'em, especially if they are cheaper!
Anyone who eats crustacean meat but refuses insect meat is crazy... they are practically the same thing, just one is in the water and the other on land.
Touche.
This makes me sicks just thinking about it....I think I'd rather starve.
RE: Hannah,
I don't think you've ever experience starvation.
If you did, you wouldn't have posted that comment. If you were really starving, you would eat your own shyt, and drink your own pee.
Umm excuse me...how do you know that I've never experienced starvation...okay so maybe I haven't...but I think I'd think twice before eating my own shyt..hmm it's either E Coli or starvation?? I hope I never have to choose.
Underwriter I go PEE-PEE on YOU!! LOL
Whats wrong Hannah, never tried some chocolate covered flea wings before? There very crunchy ;)
Hannah go PEE-PEE and then drink it for *lemonade*!!
While I am sure I may have to close my eyes at first I know I could eat bugs if need be but shouldn't the real focus be loudly letting the world's human population know we are going to be in a lot of trouble if we continue as we are? Maybe do away with any religion that preaches birth control being bad.
why? what's wrong with more people? in 40 years we'll have an endless food supply... after we decimate the bug population, we'll just eat soylent green! =)
LOL, Soiyent Green is exactly what I was going to write on your post.
I would gladly start eating people before I ever resort to eating insects.
ROFLMAO
Eating people before bugs...I'm for that. As long as I can start with Sofia Milos... ;)
So what part would you eat first?
Human meat is tough and tasteless.
Actually, it tastes like chicken.
Tx Pete & William....should we ask how you know this?!
The only problem in eating human flesh is human meat severely affects your nervous system. We are not designed to ingest ourselves. Your nerves and muscles would convulse and attempt to reject the foreign material and you would become a quivering mess.
What if we cook it?
That is completely incorrect. Human meat is very nutritious and would be a good source of protein if we got over the social taboo.
No species is supposed to eat their own species, thats where mad cow disease comes from. American and British cows are fed the waste from the slaughtering of other cows, this is extremely unsafe. Other beef exporting countries have banned this practice, America and Britain are pretty much the only ones left that risk mad cow disease because its still legal to feed animal byproduct to cows, thats why so many countries ban the importing of their beef.
You certainly wont get mad cow disease from a bug that only eats fruit.
Charlie & Sweet Dee ate human meat on an episode of Its Always Sunny, and it turned them into human-craving cannibals!!
When Aliens come, they will be like "we came all the way over here for this. Its sad" An then they will blast us.
maybe we just say all that is edible on the planet are creepy bugs and they will go away in terror. I'm sure they have creepy alien bugs on their planet. They can relate. haa haa
If we can eat Sarah Palin, sure.
Its sad that we have consumed so much of the earths resources that we are left to eat bugs
Here in SoTx every 3 or 4 years we have this infestation of crickets. They cover the roads parking lots and lobbys. I've watched Andrew Zimmer and his comments about how they taste. I would think a bag of bugs would provide protein and help get them off the roads. :)
My Mom tells me when I was little I loved eating crickets so they can't be too bad.
The same can be said about boogers then!
I've had crickets. They're terrible.
You dont want to eat just any wild insects, especially city ones. You are what you eat and city insects feed on garbage and toxic things, they will taste horrible and are probably full of bacteria. Insects farmed for eating are raised on fruit and plants. People shouldnt be grossed out by eating insects, they should be grossed out by eating beef from a cow covered in feces that was fed rotten animal byproduct and waste its whole life, thats what you get from american beef which has very little rules against cattle feed unlike most other beef countries like New Zealand and Argentina which ban animal byproducts for feed.
How can you consider yourself an apex predator without eating everything. People as well.
Well, with bugs you get 6 free leg toothpicks and a wonderfully crunchy exterior with a chewy filling.
4 of 5 people eat insects intentionally... are you serious? you probably meant unintentionally there. 4 of 5 people would be right if 4 of 5 people in the world were chinese. Anyway's in 40 years, I'll be 70 (if I'm still alive) and I'd much rather become vegetarian than eat insects intentionally.
BINGO on that move to a vegan lifestyle!!! Maybe a few bugs tossed in for protein!
Don't need bugs – quinoa is a complete protein.
You don't have a good grasp of the population distribution, do you? Asia alone is about 60% of the world's population (40% of it in china and india). Africa's another 12%. South America's a bit over 5% North America is 8%, with the US and canada making up about 5% of that, Europe's 11% and Australia/Oceania is .3%. So around 16% are areas that insects are not considered acceptable food (less, really, because some parts of Europe are OK with bugs... that fly-larvae cheese in italy for example). And the highest population growth rates are in asia, africa, and latin america. So yeah, around 84% of the current population of the world are located in countries where insects are on the menu. Even if it's not cool here in the US... we're only 4.5% of the world's population. Certainly one of the most influential 4.5%... but we don't even make up 1 in 20 people.
Thats more than100%.
no... it's not over 100%. Read iot more carefully
no..he meant intentionally.
Pretty much every culture except European (and by default, American) intentionally eats bugs of some kind. (chocolate covered ants anyone?)
Actually, we do too, just without the consumer knowing that they are bugs... instead manufacturers call them cochineal, carmine, or carminic acid (look for these ingrediants in packaged foods with a deep red color the next time you are at the supermarket!) – these are pretty much cooked and crushed bugs!
i think they meant 4 out of 5 people in China/Southeast Asia... Just worded weirdly. Because in the next paragraph they go on to talk about bugs eaten unintentionally. That would just be redundant.
No they didnt, 4 out of 5 is only 80%, EVERY country in the world eats insects on purpose except for the countries with white people. Insects are a lot more popular in latin countries than they are in China.
My how narrowly we focus. How about India, the middle east, africa (mopani worms... mmmmmm), latin america, almost all of south east asia. It is really only Europe and it's colonies that have a problem with insects.
India and much of the Middle East were colonies.
Not even Europe totally- escargot, anyone?
There will be no vegetables to feed on!! So you have to eat insect when you are 70!!
When I live abroad, I tried stir-fried and seasoned crickets, grubs, and even a big spider once. All were tasty. Tasted like crunchy salty snacks. Not sure I'd get full off of them though.
My friend showed me similar pictures after a visit to China, he thought it was funny they ate so many bugs but rarely any dairy, because many people in China think diary is gross! ha!
The reason people in China think dairy is gross is because many Asian people are lactose intolerant. It's averaged that people in Asia lose 20 to 30% of their capacity for digesting lactose a few years after weaning. In Northern Europe, for example, where a pastoral lifestyle was popular, humans have evolved an ability to shut down the part of the body that stops digesting lactose after weaning. We actually are all supposed to be lactose intolerant after childhood, but some of us have just become able to digest in over the course of the past few hundred years.
**The More You Know**
Apparently there is a gene involved with lactose tolerance.
My dad is lactose intolerant.
Don't they have bugs in Africa where thousands rpeortadly starve daily? This article is reaching the wrong demographic to support its arguments...
Just a thought...
Good one.
In South and Central America people eat ants, again, nutritious and tasty...
Eating bugs will also help the environmental cause because many people will be finding foods that dont put out so much methane as live stock.
I agree, it would helpthe enviroment. I tried ants and grashoppers in Mexico and there were tasty. People should give them a try.
I saw a pretty girl, but she had an insect leg stuck between her teeth. AND she had ant breath!
Qu'ils mangent de la blatte.
absolument degoutant! Je prefere mourir de faim...
The earth only has one problem really, too many people.
It's only a matter of time before an epidemic strikes and decimates the world's population. I don't want to sound apathetic, but a 50-75% reduction in the world's population would be quite healthy...
Now, if you are smart like me, you would start digging a hole deep into the ground so you can hide when the plague starts....
50% reduction in population, you say?
Okay, if you have 2 kids: pick which one should live.
Pick which of your parents will survive.
How about you versus your significant other? Who remains to raise your remaining child?
It's a nice theory, but unrealistic and irresponsible to suggest.
Why is it irresponsible? I'm simply stating what everyone knows to be a fact.
Just look at our ocreans. We've seen a 70% decline in fish populations, and in 2006 Stanford University published a report that if our population continues to rise, we will have less than 40 years until the oceans are completely barren. Already more than 30% of open sea fisheries are in a state of collapse.
I see nothing positive about our population doubling and continuing to grow. Resources will be more scarce. There will be more war and fighting. Good luck telling Japan to curb their fisheries.
However sad it may seem.. a human epidemic might be exactly what the dr (mother nature) ordered.
Ken, he's not saying, "I'm going to cause a 50% reduction in population", or "I'll be filled with glee if the population is reduced 50%"
Its also not unrealistic, its highly probably (not necessarily in our lifetimes, but possibly, and eventually its a practical certainty), and its also not irresponsible to consider possible futures.
i dont think you know what apathetic means
Didn't scientist start to saying that our population would be out of control in the 70's? Wasn't that the point of much of the science fiction films of that decade? Soilent Green and others looked at the future as a horrible over populated mess. And they thought the future was 1990. I hate to say it, but at the rate that scientist continue to find new species, and the amount of land that we as human's don't use, I can't see the population ever becoming a problem. At least not in the near future. Our descendants will probably evolve a way to cope with over crowding and a lack of food.
Actually, a reduction of about 97% would be more like it. The 3% thats left, would get by just fine. Plenty of room to grow all the food you could ever need. Quiet too. (ie: no idiots with boomboxes in their cars, no jerks running staight pipes on they're motorcycles, etc., you get the picture)
I agree with Bob – almost EVERY other problem that we have is due to people breeding too much – as long as people continue to have 4, 5, 12+ kids the population will cause ever increasing pressure on our resources – food, water, etc... It will cause species to go extinct, the increased number of people will pollute more and destroy more of the environment, and war will get ever more common and fierce as people push into each other.
The only way for people to really survive is for them to stop overpopulating the planet. I'm not sure that's possible due to the fact that we have a natural tendency to multiply, but that's the only real solution unless we can get a significant portion of the population off this rock and onto another – say colonizing the moon or mars...
If every couple were allowed only one child globally as China has the population would be reduced by half with each generation but what politicians are going to go there?
Breeders are the problem. The future of the world requires that we all go gay.
lol rufus, so we'll have an ever-shrinking population, which is good, but efficiency will go way down because we'll all be busy doing our hair and trying not to ruin our manicures.
So we can starve over there too. Were are you going to fing meat out there(besides ourselfs) Huh? Were are you going to find water? What are we going to find
I think the key is survival of the fittest. The worlds strongest powers need to decide which people groups to simply eliminate. We could quickly reduce the population of the world and free up valuable land and resources. Call it an UN mission and exterminate a billion people, and we'll be in a better place.
I agree that we need to be aware of our numbers. If politicians said to every woman "you can only have 1 kid" everyone would flip out and say that it's against their civil rights. But we really need to do something, especially to the ones who keep having babies. There are so many spay and nueter programs for cats and dogs to control overpopulation, but why not people?
DingDingDingDing! We have a winner. There at least seems to be some path towards renewable energy, but food and water sources can't be multiplied by harnessing the sun. The only problem is that people in so many places reproduce like rabbits, whether for traditional or religious reasons. Eventually, there will be only one solution... eat the children.
Catholics and (forgive me) Mexicans aren't helping. I saw a Mexican mother with 4 small children and she was not only pushing a stroller with a small child, but SHE WAS PREGNANT!!! 5 or 6 kids and poor is draining my city's resources!!! Instead of using taxes to pay for this, let the vatican pay!
Hmm, myself and most of my Catholic friends and family all have or are planning on having between 0-2 children. And more of the Mexicans in my neighborhood and friends from work have 0-2 children as well. There is a Protestant Scottish guy I work with who has 6 and counting though.
LOL Man that was funny.
Right Steve, white people always only have 2.5 children, make 80k, and never break the law.
Actually Steven is kind of right. The average amount of children a white woman has is 2, the average amount a Mexican Woman has is 3. I don't think Steven meant it as racist at all, he is just stating what he has observed.
OK!! I'm gonna go ahead and say it...blacks too. A single mother should not be strolling around 4 kids.....
i dunno jason, i like where your head is at but waiting 9 months to harvest a child to eat may not be worth the time...
enh... seems like a modest proposal to me.
That you, Jonathan Swift?
I don't think we need some one to require this, we just need the undeveloped countries to move past the third world status (which will happen over time, I hope). Affulental developed countries actually have shrinking populations, younger generations are waiting longer to have children and having less of them. I think less population is a solution too, but I think it's going to happen with or without governments help. Just look at Russia, they are try to encourge people to have children!
I know everyone hates wikipedia but this is a quote from their Sub-replacement fertility article "Today about 42% of the world population lives in nations with sub-replacement fertility.[citation needed] Nonetheless most of these countries still have growing populations due to immigration, population momentum and increase of the life expectancy."
Then be part of the solution ... eat a bullet
BWAA HAAA HAA!!!
More will come and more will go, don't worry. We have enough land to fill everybody - dead or alive.
I bet a lot of Americans would eat a deep-fried, chocolate swirled, cinnamon-sugared locust (insert any insect name here), if you know what I mean. Not only do we have too many people on earth, we have too many BIG/LARGE/ROTUND people who eat in excess. Give them the bugs.
Too funny! I almost spit out the water I was drinking!
Epic!!LOL!!!! Love it! Right on point. Limit the food intake of Rotund people and we have more food to go around. At the same time, we create a new "Diet Plan" to compete with Nutrisystem, Biggest Loser, etc and improve the health of the obese Americans. Then, this reduces national health care costs so our National Health Care plan succeeds!! LOL!! Love It! EmilyR for President! You have my vote.
Wow seriously... does prejudice against fat people never stop. I once had a stranger laugh at me for using the elevator... the same elevator HE was taking to my EXACT SAME FLOOR (the 6th floor)... what a douchebag. (I'm not even that fat! I'm 155lb and 5'4". I'm clinically overweight.)
I know exactly why I am fat and it is not because I eat buckets of food. It's because I have poor diet (ex. McD's for dinner) and I don't exercise. It IS my fault I'm fat but it doesn't mean that other people should criticize. Who cares if someone is fat, its none of your business. I've always wanted to show people who've made fun of me how "lazy" I am by wrestling them down and beating the sh** out of them. My philosophy is that I'd rather live happy and die young than live long and miserable.
As a foodie and someone who is half-Vietnamese I'd definitely try bugs...and snakes, and dogs, and everything... I think Westerners are ridiculous saying the only reason why you shouldn't is because they are "wrong." Hmm... interesting logic there. We eat crabs which look just like spiders... everything is equally dirty too. Mammals walk in their own sh** so why not bugs?
I think i could eat them the same way, mixed into something else, possibly with the legs and head taken off to make it less bug-like
Doncha want some hairy legged spider man?
But when I eat beef....there are no legs or other cow characteristics.
yeah i agree and you eat the whole bug instead of just certin parts of the animal, like when you eat beef of chicken
A lot of foreign countries don't eat just "certain parts" of animals. In Asia especially, they find tasty ways to serve up as many parts of the animal as possible. Large, boneless cuts of meat that us Americans are used to are actually pretty hard to find.
Actually I buy the whole chicken, roast it, and make soup from the carcass. If I see the feet (very rare), I even buy those for the soup. So I'm used to whole animals for supper. But even so I'll be hesitating over the bugs unless they are, at least first time out, mixed up with something else.
Come to think of it, i've eaten a few skeeters. Silly things fly into the mouth at picnics. Not much flavor.
It'd be more like peeling the skin off a shrimp...I mean you see the legs and don't freak out. You just dip the tiny carcass in butter or cocktail sauce and start peeling another! PROTEIN MAN!
That's true about what you say about shrimp... but if I see a shrimp on the floor I don't want to step on it and squash it or chase it out or spray my whole house for them... there is a definate mind set a lot of people would have to get over.
You never tried Ossobuco?
I could eat bugs if theyre tossed into some stir fried rice or mixed into some pasta, but right off of a stick like the pic i dont know. then again when you're hungry ya never know
I agree.. I could eat bugs if they were cooked into something.. like the example given.. Pasta or a sauce or even sauteed in butter and/or oil... But on a stick.. I just don't know...
I would definitely give it a try. It's been proven, bugs are a lot more nutricious than the food we regularly eat. I believe bugs will be part of our every day recipe in the future. Bring it on.
WWIII WILL SOON START, ALL OF YOU THAT WANT LESS POPULATION JUST WAIT A LITTLE YOU'LL GET WHAT YOU WANT. WHEN ALL YOUR BROTHERS/ SISTERS AND EVERY ONE AROUND YOU IS DEAD. WHO WILL YOU SEND MESSAGES TO HUH. WHO WILL YOU TALK TO, HUH. THATS RIGHT SHUT UP ALREADY.
cool story bro
Talking about overpopulation, I wish TLC, etc. would stop showing stupid shows like "19 Kids and Counting" about American religious kooks who keep reproducing while getting publicity at the same time – ugh!
You're an idiot. I bet you'll wind up on the evening news or front page of next day's paper, from having barricaded yourself in your house with a gun. Perhaps a little anger management might be good for you.
Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle
Hope you're the first to go.
Cheeking your meds again?
I mean, I eat weird looking things like crab, lobsters, frogs, and snails. I could do locusts, worms, don't know about scorpions, spiders...ewww. I would have to be served some adult beverages first, especially if they are on a stick.
Mixed up like you said, would be a lot easier.