Page 190: The tricky bit

Rhiannon's "Celtic Reconstructionist"/Feraferia philosophy advocates a return to the "simple times" before human mass productivity (of food and other items).  As Rhiannon and Nigel discuss, back to nature/cultural resistance philosophies have a central implication (which some might call a "fatal flaw").  Namely that:

[Hunter-Gatherer] population densities tend to be lower than those of agriculturalists, since cultivated land is capable of sustaining population densities 60–100 times greater than land left uncultivated.
 (From this article: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Hunter-gatherer#encyclopedia)

60 times is a lot.  Going all the way back to the "wilderness" (assuming a 60X productivity) would suggest a U.S. population of 6 million versus 350 million today.  That would be in the ballpark of the North American indigenous population before Columbus.

Of course, most cultural resistance movements don't advocate a return all the way to hunter-gatherer status. However, most anti-globalization, anti-corporate farming, and anti-mass production philosophies do advocate at least a part-way return to the "old ways".  Whether it is right or wrong to go back, the fact is that the "old ways" cannot realistically support the current human population of almost 7 billion people.  Even if the factor is 10X and not 60X, that's a lot of people that can't be supported.  If they can't be supported, they die.  It seems clear that most of the movements haven't thought through the full implications of their philosophies -- or if they have, they aren't talking about it.

A (very) few of the resistance movements do openly acknowledge the ultimate implication of their advocacy.  One of them is here: http://www.optimumpopulation.org/.  They have drawn a logical, if chilling, conclusion that "fewer emitters = fewer emissions".


The Optimum Population group is very real.  It has the famous Sir David Attenborough as a public face.  They really do publicly advocate an outright reduction in the human population:

OPT researchers have concluded that, in the absence of radical breakthroughs in energy technology, an environmentally sustainable population for the UK may be lower than 30 million  
(quoted from their website)

30 million compares to the current UK population of 61 million people.

They don't mention what they plan to do with all the bodies.