The empty pots/No food to cook/starving children/everyday (Photo Via A Year in a Day)
POINT 1: FOOD SHORTAGES ARE VERY REAL
Food shortages have blasted 30 nations around the world. So far the media coverage hasn’t really taken a hard look at it. Most of the western world hasn’t felt it since most people are more concerned about oil prices than food. Unfortunately the 2 are literally joined at the hip.
The Real Crisis Is Food: Beginning of the Bull for Agriculture — Seeking Alpha: “The real crisis is coming… and it’s coming fast.
Indeed, it started last year, almost entirely off the radar of the American public. While all eyes were glued to the carnage in the stock market and brokerage account balances, a far more serious crisis began to unfold rocking 30 countries around the globe.
I’m talking about food shortages.”
POINT 2: POPULATION IS GROWING TOO FAST
As I keep hearing over and over again, food supply keeps falling. The chemicals we use just can’t keep up with population growth (rising 70-80,000,000 people per year), burned out farmland and poisoned water supplies. The demand for food and meat is insane.
“… in the last two decades, these techniques have stopped producing increased yields due to their deleterious effects: you can’t spray fertilizer and irrigate fields ad infinitum without damaging the land, which reduces yields. McLoran points out that from 1970 to 1990, global average aggregate yield grew by 2.2% a year. It has since declined to only 1.1% a year. And it’s expected to fall even further this decade.”
POINT 3: WE EAT LAND AND GRAIN LIKE GASOLINE
Apparently we’re making only half the amount of food while eating ever more. In fact we use more food than ever to fatten up our meat. And the demand for meat in countries like India and China isn’t going down it’s going up. Even if you didn’t care about climate craziness, cutting down meat in general would be a good idea to save on food supply don’t you think?
“For example, in 1985 the average Chinese consumer ate 44 pounds of meat per year. Today, it’s more than doubled to 110 pounds. That in of itself is impressive, but when you consider that it takes 17 pounds of grain to generate one pound of beef, you begin to see how grain demand can rise exponentially to population growth with even modest changes to diet.”
So what is the next big thing that people and governments should be investing in …?
Trivia Note: The geophysicists Gidon Eschel and Pamela Martin have estimated that if every American reduced meat consumption by just 20%, the greenhouse gas savings would be the same as if we all switched from a normal sedan to a hybrid Prius. (Via Time Magazine) We note however that political change – changing the system – will make the biggest impact on food shortages and environment.
RESOURCES
It’s not enough that we do our best
Economic and Environmental Impact of Meat Consumption
Increased meat consumption in India, China driving global food prices: EU
Indian Meat Consumption
35 Million Americans Without Proper Access to Food
Blackouts, Shortages: The Parting Glass
World Challenges on the Food Front = Huge
The Rice is Rising … and Stolen
Meat: Making Global Warming Worse
Rising Demand for Meat Takes Toll on Environment
China’s Food Prices Rise as Population, Wealth Grow
Meeting growing meat demand for the future while protecting environment will be a challenge.
China’s rapidly growing meat demand: a domestic or an international challenge? [PDF]
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