Cost

On thinking twice, I begin to doubt whether we really know the cost.

One example at hand is organic farming, which many of us are so fond of nowadays. Of course there is no chemical and therefore not much pollution. The crops are a little more expensive, but we can afford - so what ?

The very fact behind the stage is that organic farming needs, on average, eight times more land. (Or, from another angle, the yield per field is one-eighth.) When farmers in developed countries put excessive crops to ash we scream like hell for their neglecting those hungry children in Africa. But to whom we should yell when we use fertile lands for organic farming - while we can use the land to feed more people ? (You can take this arithmetic analogy: we eat eight times more food because we can afford; just close one of your eyes to the famine outside the door.)

You may say the land is ours, and we have the money. Well, the money is yours, but the natural resource belongs to every man on earth (if you believe all men are equal). One should not waste natural resource because they have the money - and put the others in jeopardy.

(Alas, I am not sure all men are equal. But it just irritates my eyes because most of the supporters of organic farming don't agree with George Orwell and think that even all animals are equal.)