The Growing Oil and Food Crisis
Kitchen-table talk here in the United States is rife with complaints about rising oil prices and their impact on everything from foodstuffs to commuting costs. But the crisis of rising fuel prices pales in comparison to an even newer worry. Skyrocketing global prices for rice and grain crops, especially in developing nations that depend on them to feed their populaces, stand to dwarf our fuel problems.
Today's British Guardian newspaper reports:
The UN secretary general issued a gloomy warning yesterday that the burgeoning global food crisis, in which rapidly rising prices have triggered riots and threatened hunger in dozens of countries, could have grave implications for international security, economic growth and social progress."
This is an understatement. Young Americans were not alive when developing nations suffered unending food shortages and starvation was common in poor countries. I remember visiting India in the 1970s, when bone-thin families slept on bamboo mats on the streets of New Delhi.
Homeless men shaved each morning at fire hydrants that they used as sinks. Poverty is still rampant in the developing world. But starvation is not the constant it once was. Will it return?
"The World Bank estimates that food prices have risen by an average of 83 percent in the past three years, though for some staples the rises have been even sharper. A range of factors has been blamed, including poor harvests, partly due to climate change, steep growth in demand from China and India, and the dash to produce biofuels for motoring at the expense of food crops," reports the Guardian.
Food riots, mainly over rice shortages, have already broken out in Indonesia, Haiti, Egypt, and several other African countries.
Bangladesh is responding by requiring the use of more potatoes and less rice to feed its Army. "Easy to grow, quick to mature, requiring little water and with yields two to four times greater than that of wheat or rice, the potato is being cultivated more in an effort to ensure food security, agronomists say," reports the Independent.
Are potatoes the answer to rice and grain shortages? It's not yet clear. But it is clear that to our list of worries, which already includes energy security, homeland security, and economic security, we must add "food security."
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conversion
I’ve developed a proposal, called the Conversion Proposal (or the Once Cent Solution), the purpose of which is to initiate a national program to address fossil fuel dependence. Please go to http://conversionsite.blogspot.com/2007/04/conversion-proposal.html and post your ideas on the proposal and how we might build some momentum with our elected officials.
People in thrid world countries have too many kids?
People in third world countries have too many kids?
Yeah, lets blame the third world countires...instead of the western countries like the USA that, instead of invading places like Iraq..could have invaded third world countries where people are really worse off...and then stabilise those countries and invest in them technology en masse to being them to prosperity.
You think third world countries are eating up all of America's food resources?
FFS have you seen how fat you and your neighbors are?
Maybe if you folks ate a little less, drove smaller cars and generally put some thought into your "gotta have it now, must have more and bigger' lifestyles...you might just start making some sense when you post up stuff.
You think third world countries use up a lot of oil?
The USA is the number one user of oil products in the world.
YOU lot are the ones using the majority of oil...YOU lot are the ones that are now screaming because is getting scarce and more expensive.
People in thrid world countires will probably end up suffering a lot less than you 'civilised' folk...because they're used to surviving on nothing...Americans are not.
Life as we know it in the west may fast be coming to an end.
Happy trails.
My opiNioN...
basically, only 5% of biofeuls are made using food products or crops such as maize, while the rest 95% is still petroluem. Just look at what this 5% of has done to us... it basically, caused a major havoc by people blaming biofuel as d reason for food crisis. I feel tht while emphasisng on biofuel, rapid actions should also be done to increase the total yield of food product. This is to place the construction of biofuel and production of food in equilibrium. If there's no eveness between both... food crisis will occur as most of the food supply is contributed to the production of biofuel. However, there are several options availabe to over come the problem between biofuel and food crisis... GMOs. But could theybe the right option? the answer is in our hands....
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