LAND SCARCITY
This problem is blatantly obvious: competition for land increases as populations grow, but the earth’s land surface remains constant. Worse still, certain lands suit only certain uses, and climate change and industrialization are ruining land for some uses altogether. Now on top of that we will have to find ever increasing room for our dead. Life-and-death decisions of the most literal kind have become inescapable.
SO HOW SHOULD WE ALLOCATE LAND FOR COMPETING USES?
Logically, we should: 1) prioritize needs; 2) satisfy essential Life-needs with the best land available; 3) dedicate lower-quality land to lower needs. This has clear conclusions for cemeteries. Our essential Life-needs are a stable environment, food, shelter and livelihood. Consequently, we should:
- conserve wilderness and greenfields to stabilize the natural environment on which life depends. This is at a minimum; and practically speaking, it can only be conserved, it cannot be created or restored at will. Conclusion: we simply cannot afford to consume more wilderness or greenfields without risking losing the whole game.
- conserve existing arable land to feed growing populations. But cities will consume more arable land, and greenfields or wilderness should not replace that. Neither should we count on gaining arable land by other means - climate change gives with one hand and takes with the other; and the greening of deserts may be a utopic pipe-dream. Sufficient gains in productivity and efficiency are also unrealistic.
- increase urbanization to house and provide livelihood for growing populations. Though undesirable, in the face of the growing masses we have little choice. We can try to minimize this land need by increasing efficiency. But we are rapidly reaching the limits here.
CONCLUSION
The living and the dead increasingly compete for the shrinking resource of land. But Life-needs take priority over death’s needs; thus wilderness, arable land and other green fields should be conserved for Life-needs. And for the needs of our dead - for cemeteries - we should only use lands that can no longer serve Life-needs.
Following this simple principle brings us to the only real solution to our grave problems.
