Walked out to the garden earlier to see if some tomatoes were ripe

to discover that the !*(#(&&&!! bleepin' mockingbirds(they're the worst) had gotten under the netting and pecked holes in a full have of those that were ripe. Picked what was left, then made some stakes to hold the edges of the netting down better. While I was doing that, the thought occurred that the enviroloonies, who think things were so much better before we had all this nasty technology, would have thought it was great: they were 'sharing the bounty of the earth with Mother Gaia's creatures', etc.

You know what our ancestors did in those days? The kids, when not tied up in some other work, were out in the fields running the birds and rabbits and whatever else the hell off: everything they ate was that much less for the family to eat, that much less to preserve for winter, that much less to sell or trade. Too much taken by the critters meant hunger. REAL hunger. A lot of the men who went off to war with a sling over their neck learned to use it protecting the crop and, since many of the vermin could be eaten, putting meat on the table. David didn't have that sling for decoration or fun, you know; he learned to use it keeping predators off the flock. And killing small game for food I don't doubt. Yes, I know under Jewish law hunting is generally discouraged; I much doubt that a shepherd with the chance to put a rabbit or something in the pot would pass it up, at least some times.

Here in the U.S., in the 1800's, there are documented cases of locust swarms 100 miles wide, and more long. Where something like this passed, starvation followed in the days before better transport, communications and food preservation. When, in any first-world country, was the last time- outside war or other severe disruption- famine occurred due to such?* Insecticides made a world of difference in how well we eat.

I know that some of the nutcase-level greenies and watermelons want people to die off, at least mostly(we would be allowed to survive as small villages and hunter-gather groups); I seriously wonder if the others have any real idea what would happen if we couldn't use this tech anymore to keep our food growing?