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Cities Built on Fertile Lands Affect Climate
Devar writes "While cities provide vital habitat for human beings to thrive, it appears U.S. cities have been built on the most fertile soils, lessening contributions of these lands to Earth's food web and human agriculture, according to a study by NASA researchers and others. Though cities account for just 3 percent of continental U.S. land area, the food and fiber that could be grown there rivals current production on all U.S. agricultural lands, which cover 29 percent of the country. Studies like this one may lead to smarter urban-growth strategies in the future."
But Civilization has tought us that the best tactic is to build your cities on fertile ground, thus assuring a free bonus to food production.
Maybe NASA should investigate the effects of granary production, and in-city irrigation.
This has been known for a long time, in the early 19th century, Coleridge published a poem about Xanadu - see the following snippets:
:-)
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree,
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
So, we see early in the poem, beautiful, fertile ground. Later in the same poem, we read that:
It was a miracle of rare device, A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !
So, this research is not novel, such climate change has been known for almost two centuries
After we exterminate the native Martion population we will have plenty room to grow all of the steakfruit we can eat.
"The potato yeilds are just nuts"
If you can get the pigs to lay eggs, you might have something here!
Second, it's not as simple as saying, "that's where people want to live, too bad." Silicon Valley is built on the best farmland in California, possibly in North America. The early electronic factories didn't come here for easy access to food -- they came here to be near Stanford and the Moffett Naval Air Station.
Yes, I remember tales of the pioneers of the 1800s hitching up the Conestoga and braving the crossing of the great plains in their brave quest to live near Stanford and Moffett Field, visions of higher learning and F-14s dancing in their heads as they struggled to ford streams with their teams of oxen...
The potato yeilds are just nuts - and we're not even trying hard.
I'll say! If you plant potatos and reap nuts, you must be doing this really half-assed!
You can't take the sky from me...
Haven't been to California much, eh?
Here you need about 80,000 pages of committee reviewed studies to mow the lawn.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
..just so happens to be build in the middle of the freakin' desert! Not exactly fertile.. So, though this may hold true for a lot of cities, there are many exceptions.
What is your penile percentile?