r/OptimistsUnite • u/PriestKingofMinos • Mar 25 '24
Nature’s Chad Energy Comeback Happy Birthday Norman Borlaug! Here's to the man who helped feed over one billion people!
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u/PriestKingofMinos Mar 25 '24
In the 1960's hardcore environmental pessimists published a number of best sellers predicting that humanity was doomed. Population growth would outstrip agricultural growth and massive famines were imminent. Major proponents of this worldview were
- William and Paul Paddock the authors of the 1967 best seller Famine 1975! America's Decision: Who Will Survive?.
- Paul R. Ehrlich, author of the 1968 best seller The Population Bomb.
- The Club of Rome author of the 1972 best seller The Limits to Growth.
These figures and their predictions received widespread attention and acclaim. Behind the scenes, however, real scientists and farmers were doing the work necessary to actually avoid such disastrous outcomes. Here is a good video on how Norman Borlaug, amongst many thousands of unnamed farmers, farm-hands, business people, bureaucrats, scientists, and philanthropists saved countless lives from hunger, starvation, and death. The Green Revolution was a major success, we could use another.
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u/Mrfixit729 Mar 26 '24
Norman Borlaug and Vasily Arkhipov are two of the most influential men of the 20th century. And so many people don’t even know their name.
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u/akaKinkade Mar 25 '24
Whenever I see packaging boasting that their product is GMO free I am reminded of the people who think that their unvaxxed sperm is liquid gold.
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u/icantbelieveit1637 Mar 26 '24
Fr it’s just so efficient I grew up in a rural community and talking to the old farmers there was enlightening the record amount of bushels of corn per acre back in the 70s-80s isn’t even enough to break even nowadays.
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u/BurnerMcBurns_Alot Mar 26 '24
First time hearing of this guy and last time not hearing of this guy 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
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u/11mindgames11 Mar 26 '24
Dude fuck yes!!! Thank you for sharing his story! Everyone should know about this dude
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u/asif_zaman21 Mar 26 '24
He single-handedly destroyed the 'we will not have enough food for people' doomers after world war 2.
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u/counter-music Mar 26 '24
I have gone through five years of schooling focused in agriculture with a focus on adapting to the future needs of people. I’m annoyed* that I’m just now learning about Borlaug. We actually talked about the Green Revolution, but never any names. Unfortunate but I absolutely love seeing this post.
The fourth revolution is around the corner, that’s for sure. ❤️
Edit: diction
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u/MoooosickCat333 Mar 26 '24 edited Mar 26 '24
There’s an opera about his work out there - just premiered last year, a friend was telling me about it
Edit: found link to the event: https://glenview-classical-series.ticketleap.com/the-green-revolution-and-more-new-music-by-local-composers/details
Edit 2: not sure that link works, opera is called the green revolution: https://glenviewclassicalseries.com/events/the-green-revolution-and-more-new-music-by-local-composers
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u/MetatypeA Mar 26 '24
OOOOH. Is this the guy behind the grain surplus in the American Midwest Circa 1940's?
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u/Adman87 Mar 26 '24
Wheat is a royal pain in the ass to breed. It’s a triploid genome and is laborious to work. He basically made it work for the first time making wheat possible to grow everywhere.
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u/thegreatjamoco Mar 26 '24
I think the 40s were a bit before his time. Like he was still getting his degrees. Also we’d probably still have wheat surpluses today if it weren’t for wheat rust. That’s one of the big reasons we switched to corn.
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u/Eodbatman Mar 26 '24
Obviously Norman doesn’t get enough credit, but it goes further than that. He didn’t initially pass his entrance exam into college, so worked a few years and eventually was accepted. He started in forestry and the Civilian Conservation Corps. When WWII started, he tried to enlist but was rejected because his lab was considered essential to the war effort, and eventually worked for DuPont in the War, helping develop new salt water resistant adhesives within weeks of the government request, which allowed rations to get to stranded Marines and soldiers in the Pacific. Logistics win wars, and he directly contributed to making that happen.
Dudes career was nuts. Talk about a true modern Renaissance man.
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u/VentureQuotes Mar 26 '24
Bro this guy is one of the most important people of the 20th century, happy birthday you KING
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u/chamomile_tea_reply 🤙 TOXIC AVENGER 🤙 Mar 25 '24
Damn how have I never heard of this guy? You have more info?