Oh, I know it’s unrealistic. And I understand the benefits to the earth of discontinuing the processes we use now to produce food on a massive scale. But I think the hypothetical question is still interesting, even as a thought experiment: if all the billions of humans on the planet went completely to a foraging lifestyle at once, could the current state of the biosphere support it? If we moved like nomadic herds across the countryside, over the course of seasons, would we fall into a symbiotic cycle with the natural world, or still strip it bare to where it couldn’t replenish quickly enough to meet our needs? I’m not sure it’s a model we’ve ever (as Homo sapiens) completely embraced, and when we have, it has been in smaller social units, often in a pre-industrialized natural world.
