Oddbean new post about login | logout Most Australian farming is just destructive, we've turned vast areas into deserts in just two centuries or less.
It's happening in the US, too. It's completely unsustainable.
The worst of it is doing dumb stuff like building a city in the middle of the desert (Las Vegas) or draining aquafers for dumb reasons. Water is the foundation of all life, and it can be utilized in much better ways.
Locally we are building new estates on the best farmland, when more marginal land is only 10 more minutes drive. So we lose the best land and push agriculture into the least effective places, that would be better for houses. Bonkers.