In 1972, the world’s first UN Conference on the Human Environment, in Stockholm, failed to even discuss human population. During the meetings, Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, urged the delegates to consider ways to mitigate human population growth, as a driving force of ecological destruction.

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On top of everything else we face in the global mess that industrialism has left us — crashing financial markets, ponzi scams passed off as economic theory, peak oil, disappearing forests, ocean dead zones — we also face a global soil crisis. Note these interesting developments regarding food production and arable land:

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In 1969, Marie Aimee took her two children for medical treatment, a six-day voyage across the Indian Ocean from their home on Diego Garcia island to Port Louis, Mauritius. Her husband, Dervillie Permal, stayed behind to work at a coconut oil factory and tend the family garden and animals. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">

After visiting the doctor and picking up supplies in Port Louis, Marie and her children arrived at the quay for the trip home. However, a British Government agent refused to allow them onto the boat, stranding Marie and her children in Mauritius. Throughout the following weeks, other marooned islanders appeared, congregating in a local slum, living in boxes or tin shacks. Two years later, Marie’s husband arrived in Port Louis with one small bag and a chilling story.

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