From: Barbara Lamar (barbaralamar@sanmarcos.net)
Date: Sat Aug 23 2003 - 12:46:04 MDT
Robert Bradbury wrote:
> I would like to see someone cite some Google references on the actual
> land area required to produce 2500 calories per day. (There seems
> to be a lot of hand waving going on here).
I can't cite a Google source, but the best book I've ever seen on the topic
is *How to Grow More Vegetables* by John Jeavons. It contains comprehensive
charts with information on calorie yield per square foot, not only for
vegetables but also for grains and fruit and nut trees. The yields are given
for poor medium and high quality soils, so one can get an idea of what one
can produce the first year, and in subsequent years after one has had a
chance to build up the soil.
While many of the horticultural methods discussed in the book are excellent,
I find some of the "biodynamic" stuff silly, but the charts alone are well
worth the price of the book.
http://www.cambiumgardening.com/books/growing_food/1-58008-233-5/
> I think one thing missing in the discussion is what happens in various
> regional areas as we concentrate the houses in ever-expanding (cheaper?)
> suburbs while concentrating the jobs in core centers. An ever increasing
> fraction of time and money must go into transporting oneself from the
> far flung suburbs to the core centers. I knew people that would spend
> one or two hours (each way) commuting from the North Bay to the South
> Bay. Seattle is rapidly becoming similar.
Three things local governments could do to move real estate development the
other direction would be to give tax incentives for inner city development,
impose higher taxes on parking lots and parking garages, and stop building
more freeways. The main reason for suburan development seems to be
economics -- at the moment, it's cheaper for the individual to live outside
the city and drive in than to live inside the city. Whether it's *actually*
cheaper if you include the externalized costs is another question, and I
don't know the answer.
Individuals and developers could, of course, reclaim inner city areas on
their own with no government incentives at all; and many people (including
Damien and me) are doing that.
Barbara
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