Wojtek asks me to do the maths. I have done the maths for the UK, though not yet for the world.
This is how it comes out. The Office for National Statistics Land Use survey puts the built up part of the UK at ten per cent of all land. Farming accounts for three-quarters of all land. Because of increasing yields, around a third of the farm land is surplus to requirement, leading to wholesale land retirement (usually effected by having it re-designated national park, green belt or something similar).
[WS:] I think you missed my point entirely, James. I did not ask you to do the math for a few disgruntled Londoners who cannot afford living in the city. I asked you to do the math for nearly 7 billion people on this planet, most of whom do not give a flying fuck about housing problems that Londoners face. If you are a true socialist, as you seem to claim, you should also be concerned how the Chinese or the Indians live, no?
There is also another issue that needs to be considered while doing the math - namely that not all land has been created equal. There are some swatches of land that will have a few takes under any circumstances, and other swatches that will attract people like a magnet. In other words, those millions of McHome-less Chinese or Indians, who a true socialist would want house, will not move to a colony built in the Gobi Desert. They would rather live in more desirable places, such as those around London. So what you will have as a result is Gobi deserts still being what they are - deserts - while settlement areas around Londons expanding not two or three, but perhaps twenty of fifty times of their current size as a result of your building project. I doubt that Her Majesty's Office for National Statistics Land Use factored that in their projections.
And then there are other pesky issues, such as transportation. Since you. errr "ordinary people" love SUVs and dislike trains, I reckon you would like to have cars as the main if not only means of moving around in your building utopia. Can you imagine the time an ordinary person would have to spend to buy a pack of cigarettes, or for that matter commuting to work, in this sprawl-topia? I did not mention going to a pub, as Londoners currently do, because the institution of the pub would die rather quickly, as its patrons would be either killed or maimed while DUI back home, or altogether lose interest in going when facing the prospect of sitting in traffic for an hour or so. I wonder how that would be received by the "ordinary people." They get pissed if their beer is not sold by the pint, so this would stir a revolution, I imagine.
I leave more long term, and thus open-ended impacts out of this discussion, but I am pretty sure that "ordinary" people would not appreciate it, if Ireland and UK turned into, say, Alaska when the Gulf Stream changes its course as a result of a climate change.
Wojtek
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