Why does it have to be impossible?

I've been sent a few things recently inviting me to discussions about why it is impossible to fix the broken food systems we are starting to acknowledge.

I've actually even had a few people explain to me why it simply cannot be done, and therefore shouldn't even be something we are worrying about.

The basic argument is this:

At the turn of the last century when the industrial revolution conveniently coincided with war-related food shortages there were 3 billionish people on the planet.

Now there are 7ish, and if we flip a switch tomorrow, stopping the use of petroleum based products to stimulate food production, banning the use of GMOs or BGHs, and moving to a sustainable, organic system, we can only produce enough food to feed 3 billionish people.

Said switch flip will suddenly plunge the remaining 4 billionish people into a horrifying state of starvation, suffering and death.

Because we wouldn't want that, all this trying to stop using petro-chemistry to create tons of food, much of which is ultimately wasted, or turned into non-food products is a very bad idea.

Seriously, imagine! Where will we put all the bodies? It would be gross. There would be big piles of them, I mean, 4 billionish is an awful lot of people!

The streets will be lined with starving children, holding out food bowls, desparate for a scrap of... what? Corn, maybe...?

Oh, please!
What a load of bollocks.

I am so sorry. If I thought there was any chance that suddenly the world would wake up and go, "Hey! I won't eat that watermelon they are selling at a MA Whole Foods in March, because it came from Ecuador, and that is so not sustainable, dude!", then I might start to feel nervous.

If I thought that all those HUGE farm/factories that cover vast spaces of arable, and unarable, land in the warmer places in the world would stop using petro fertillizers tomorrow. Stop wasting crazy quanities of water, pumped through massive, ugly pipes for miles to create the environment their frankenplants need to flourish while washing the soil and all of the chemicals into open waterways. Stop growing nothing but corn, and soybeans, and corn, and soybeans... Stop stock piling grains that are inedible while forcing small farmers to leave their fields laying fallow. Stop using infertile, hence unreproducable, seeds in favor of less active, slower growing and more nutritious, but less productive plants. Then, maybe, I might think, "Uh oh, we are gonna run out of food if we aren't careful!"

If I thought that all of the moms across the world would suddenly decide, "You know what? I don't want my kids eating this food- it has been sitting for months in containers and has no nutritional value anymore. I want food that is produced near by and in season, and there for will provide more valuable calories for my little darlings' tummies." Yes, I would first cheer, and then start to feel some concern for how many people we can't feed.

But let's face it, shall we? Nothing is going to change overnight.

The agri-giants are not going to suddenly shut down, or stop using aggresive but sterile seeds. The corn lobby is not going to roll over and say, "Oh, wow, yeah... Um, seriously, we are SO sorry we've proliferated your systems with non-nutritious, empty carbs, allow us to plant slower and more varied crops, using organic practices and non-GMO starters." And no matter how many people say they are really making an effort to eat more sustainably, this is still a boutique fad, embraced by those who can afford to make choices, and who care about health more than economy.

Are we in real danger of starvation?
So much danger that we should stop making change happen with our personal shopping decisions? At such great risk that we should stop pushing back against the corn giant, and the soy giant...
Really?

Should we suddenly find a way to make huge change in our food systems- fix what's broken, source food with considerably reduced fossil fuel consumption, and convince the increasingly obese parents of the world to shift their increasingly obese children off of fast food and onto fresh food. If we suddenly find the magic pill, flip the magic switch or pull the magic cord. It is possible that there won't be enough food to feed the huddled masses.

It is possible, should we find such a silver bullet, that a lot of people would starve.
If with my sustainable habits I am putting anyone, or any 4 billionish people, in harm's way then I am genuinely sorry, but I'll tell you what-
I think that it is a risk I am willing to take.