A friend advises that Darwinist Douglas Futuyma’s recent book, A New Biology for the 21st Century informs us,
Now more than ever, biology has the potential to contribute practical solutions to many of the major challenges confronting the United States and the world. A New Biology for the 21st Century recommends that a “New Biology” approach–one that depends on greater integration within biology, and closer collaboration with physical, computational, and earth scientists, mathematicians and engineers—be used to find solutions to four key societal needs: sustainable food production, ecosystem restoration, optimized biofuel production, and improvement in human health. The approach calls for a coordinated effort to leverage resources across the federal, private, and academic sectors to help meet challenges and improve the return on life science research in general.
Another friend points out that this is all geared to current “easy story” media campaigns.
I have a vested interest in this problem. I live in one of the world’s breadbaskets, where you will rarely hear of anyone starving to death, unless an alleged criminal activity is involved. Still, I am part of the disastrous population overload, according to some. In my view, the biggest reasons for failed food production are bad government and inadequate culture.
Anyway, how are we disastrous, exactly? Who around here is supposed to look after things?
Raccoons? Porcupines? Rats? Millipedes?
Well, good luck getting them to do anything.