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A comment on Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedkiller Case. Parent comment

Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by yxhuvud on Monday April 27, 2026 @12:33PM (#47923798)
No, mass starvation would not ensue from having to fight weeds using mechanical means. It would take more work and more fuel, but it is eminently doable if the need is there. Especially if the change would be gradual.

Making do without artificial fertilizer would be a lot harder.

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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by bluGill on Monday April 27, 2026 @01:35PM (#47924661)
Increased fuel means a lot more CO2. That is a very significant factor you cannot ignore.
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by nozzlegear on Monday April 27, 2026 @02:32PM (#47925401)
Perhaps if herbicides weren't viable, more work would've gone into developing the mechanical alternatives and we'd have had solar-powered machines removing weeds from fields.
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by bluGill on Monday April 27, 2026 @06:57PM (#47928438)
Soil resistance is worse than air resistance, but similar concept. It needs a lot of energy to overcome.
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by yxhuvud on Monday April 27, 2026 @04:38PM (#47927005)
More CO2 compared to what tractors use today, yes. But that is not a lot compared to the rest of the human civilization spend on transportation.

So no, it is not a very significant factor.

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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by gustavus on Monday April 27, 2026 @12:46PM (#47924002)
Increased work and fuel means increased costs, increased costs means increased prices, increased prices means less food available for purchase by those on the margins, less food means starvation.
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by jayd16 on Monday April 27, 2026 @12:52PM (#47924088)
So anything that effects food prices, regardless of magnitude, causes mass starvation?
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by victorbjorklund on Monday April 27, 2026 @03:11PM (#47925915)
No, not regardless of magnitude. But anything that have a large impact on food prices will decrease the ability of poor people to pay for it. It’s not rocket science.
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by jayd16 on Monday April 27, 2026 @04:49PM (#47927133)
Then it's a discussion about magnitude and jumping to starvation is unfounded.
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by XorNot on Monday April 27, 2026 @06:36PM (#47928305)
Price increases due to disruption of Ukrainian grain shipments from the war substantially threatened African food stability.

Despite their being plenty of capacity elsewhere because the smaller redirects of trucking into the European markets crashed prices enough that it led to protests in Poland and discontent elsewhere (though probably with significant Russian psyops involvement).

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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by victorbjorklund on Wednesday April 29, 2026 @03:43AM (#47945274)
People are already starving in the world. With higher prices the amount of people starving would be more. It's gonna be ten thousand more or a million more? That's up for debate.
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Re:Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedk... by HDThoreaun on Monday April 27, 2026 @05:03PM (#47927275)
Anything that causes food prices to rise a lot causes starvation yea, when prices go up people consume less.
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