American environmental author Daniel Quinn coined the term Food Race (by analogy to the Cold War's "nuclear arms race") to describe an understanding of the current overpopulation emergency as a perpetually escalating crisis between growing human population and growing food production, which is fueled by the latter. Quinn argues that as the worldwide human population increases, the typical international response is to more intensely produce and distribute  food to feed these greater numbers of people. However, assuming that population increases according to increased food availability, Quinn argues that this response only ends up leading to an even larger population and thus greater starvation in the end. Therefore, Quinn's clear solution to the Food Race —to stop producing so much food—is not generally a common-sense or intuitive response; instead , it derives from seemingly counter-intuitive or "outside-the-box" thinking.Quinn, Daniel, and Alan D. Thornhill. "Food Production and Population Growth." Video documentary supported by the Foundation for Contemporary Theology. Houston: New Tribal Ventures (1998).  Basis Quinn bases the Food Race on the premise that the total human population, like that of all other animals, is influenced by food supply. Thus, larger populations are the result of more abundant food supplies, and intensification of food cultivation in response to population growth merely leads to still more population growth. Quinn compared this to the arms race in the Cold War , noting that any increase in food supply is met with a corresponding increase in population . Like Garrett Hardin, then, Quinn sees the only possible conclusions to the Food Race as either abandonment (of such a "race") or catastrophe. Peter Farb, for example, has commented on the paradox that "intensification of production to feed an increased population leads to a still greater increase in population."Farb, Peter: 1978, Humankind. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. Comparison to Malthusian catastrophe The superficial similarities between this concept and a Malthusian catastrophe are obvious, but Quinn himself notes certain key differences. The primary problem in a Malthusian catastrophe is a population growing larger than its food supplycan support; in Quinn 's view, this is impossible, as population is a function of food supply, and not merely some independent variable. The problem for Quinn is not the chaos caused by a scarcity of food during a time of overpopulation , but, rather, the chaos of overpopulationitself. So, in some ways, Quinn 's "Food Race" is in fact the opposite of the Malthusian problem , which Quinn characterizes as " How are we going to FEED all these people?" in contrast to the Quinnian problem: " How are we going to stop PRODUCING all these people?" Criticism The idea that human population is tied to food supply is contentious, however. Many biologists disagree with Quinn's assessment. While food supply certainly imposes an upper limit on population growth, they point out that culture, living standards, human intelligence, and free will can impose lower, secondary limits to population growth. Critics also point out that the most significant population growth is occurring in the Third World , where regional food production is lowest. Meanwhile, the First World, where food is most plentiful, is undergoing a decline in birth rates. Quinn has suggested this results from international food distribution and has claimed that the farms of the First World fuel population growth in the Third . United Nations projections that  world population will level off sometime in the near future also contradict Quinn's statements. In November 1998 , Daniel Quinn made a video exploring these topics with Dr. Alan Thornhill of the Society for Conservation Biology , entitled, Food Production And Population Growth. Russell Hopfenberg has written at least two papers attempting to prove Quinn's ideas, one paper with David Pimentel entitled "Human Population Numbers as a Function of Food Supply" and another, "Human Carrying Capacity is Determined by Food Availability". Hopfenberg has also made available a narrated slide show entitled "World Food and Human Population Growth". Jason Godesky wrote an article in 2005, entitled "The Opposite of Malthus", which attempts to ground Quinn's work in a more solid, scientific framework. See also Human overpopulation Population growth Carrying capacity Population dynamics Malthusianism New tribalists  External links Technology and the Other War, a speech by Daniel Quinn dealing with the Food Race concept.
American environmentalist author Daniel Quinn coined the term food race (by analogy to the Cold War's "nuclear arms race") to describe his concept of a perpetually escalating crisis of human overpopulation due to a growing human population and growing food production, which is fuelled by the latter. Quinn argues that as the worldwide human population increases, the typical international response is to produce and distribute more food to feed these greater numbers of people. However, assuming that population increases according to increased food availability, Quinn argues that this response only ends up leading to an even larger population and thus greater starvation in the end. Quinn's solution to the food race —to stop producing so much food—is not generally a common-sense or intuitive response; instead he claims he is counter-intuitive or "outside-the-box" thinking.Quinn, Daniel, and Alan D. Thornhill. "Food Production and Population Growth." Video documentary supported by the Foundation for Contemporary Theology. Houston: New Tribal Ventures (1998). Russell Hopfenberg has written at least two papers attempting to prove Quinn's ideas, one paper with David Pimentel titled Human Population Numbers as a Function of Food Supply and Human Carrying Capacity is Determined by Food Availability. Hopfenberg has also made a narrated slide show titled World Food and Human Population Growth. Jason Godesky wrote a 2005 article titled The Opposite of Malthus, which attempts to ground Quinn's work in a more solid, scientific framework. Basis Quinn bases the food race on the premise that the total human population, like that of other animals, is influenced by food supply. Thus, larger populations are the result of more abundant food supplies, and intensification of food cultivation in response to population growth merely leads to still more population growth. Quinn compared this to the arms race in the Cold War . Like Garrett Hardin, Quinn believes any development to address food security will only lead to catastrophe. Comparison to Malthusian catastrophe The similarities between this concept and a Malthusian catastrophe are obvious, but Quinn states there are certain key differences. The primary problem in a Malthusian catastrophe is a population growing faster than the growth in food supply. Quinn states that population is a function of food supply, and not merely some independent variable. Quinn considers that problem is not a scarcity of food , but, rather, overpopulation. Quinn characterizes the Malthusian problem as " how are we going to feed all these people?" , and characterizes "Quinnian problem " as "how are we going to stop feeding all these people?" Criticism The idea that human population is tied to food supply is contentious, however. Many biologists disagree with Quinn's assessment. While food supply certainly imposes an upper limit on population growth, they point out that culture, living standards, human intelligence, and free will can impose lower, secondary limits to population growth. Critics also point out that the most significant population growth is occurring in the developing world , where regional food production is lowest. Meanwhile, the First World, where food is most plentiful, is undergoing a decline in birth rates. Quinn has suggested this results from international food distribution , claiming that the farms of the First World fuel population growth elsewhere . United Nations projections that the world population will level off sometime in the near future also contradict Quinn's statements. In 1998 Daniel Quinn and Alan D. Thornhill then of the Society for Conservation Biology made a video exploring these topics titled Food Production And Population Growth. See also Ecofascism Malthusianism New tribalists Population growth External links Technology and the Other War, a speech by Daniel Quinn dealing with the food race concept.
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Russell Hopfenberg has written at least two papers attempting to prove Quinn's ideas, one paper with David Pimentel titled Human Population Numbers as a Function of Food Supply and Human Carrying Capacity is Determined by Food Availability. Hopfenberg has also made a narrated slide show titled World Food and Human Population Growth. Jason Godesky wrote a 2005 article titled The Opposite of Malthus, which attempts to ground Quinn's work in a more solid, scientific framework.
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then, Quinn sees the only possible conclusions to the Food Race as either abandonment (of such a "race") or catastrophe. Peter Farb, for example, has commented on the paradox that "intensification of production to feed an increased population leads to a still greater increase in population."Farb, Peter: 1978, Humankind. Boston, Houghton Mifflin.
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Russell Hopfenberg has written at least two papers attempting to prove Quinn's ideas, one paper with David Pimentel entitled "Human Population Numbers as a Function of Food Supply" and another, "Human Carrying Capacity is Determined by Food Availability". Hopfenberg has also made available a narrated slide show entitled "World Food and Human Population Growth". Jason Godesky wrote an article in 2005, entitled "The Opposite of Malthus", which attempts to ground Quinn's work in a more solid, scientific framework.
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