In a letter to a US newspaper Ban Ki Moon warned that shortages are forcing prices to rise which may have devastating consequences for the world’s most vulnerable communities
The most acute effects have been seen in Egypt, where thousands of people have resorted to violence due to shortages of basic food commodities and rising food prices. Global phenomena
The shortage of food has now assumed a global dimension; some 73 million people in 78 countries depend on the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP). MORE
The global food crisis is being blamed on higher fuel prices which equate to everything rising in price, however, the real culprit is climate change and/or global warming, whichever term you choose to use, and that is definitely getting worse! This next report is from Time Magazine online, and it was published on Aug. 27, 2007. As you read this report, please note the flooding that is currently underway in the Midwest and then apply it to our current situation; also, back in 2007, fuel prices were not nearly a high as they are now - and there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel:
Global Warming’s Next Victim: Wheat
We’re used to watching the price of oil mock gravity, but there’s an even more essential commodity that’s also become scarcer and pricier in recent months: Traders are paying record prices for wheat on world markets, thanks in part to shortages caused by a mix of drought and flooding. Canada, the second-biggest wheat producer after the U.S., looks set to harvest its smallest crop in five years, due to an unusually dry July, while production in the European Union may be down nearly 40% from last year after flooding rains followed long droughts. Growing global demand for biofuels is also eating up grain production, and boosting prices.
As a result of the supply squeeze, global inventories of wheat — which makes up one-fifth of the world’s food intake — are expected to fall to their lowest level in 26 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tighter supplies mean American consumers will be paying a few cents more for everything from bread to muffins to hamburgers, as meat supplies can be tied to grain prices. And, if the world warms as expected over the coming decades, the terrible farming year of 2007 may be just the beginning. As temperatures rise, many studies predict that crop yields will decline, as the extreme droughts and floods that damaged this year’s wheat crops become more common. The most fertile areas are likely to be found further north in response to the heat, opening up the possibility of agriculture in territories such as Siberia that had long been too cold for decent farming. But the same effect could turn current bread-basket regions as the American Midwest into dust bowls. MORE
Once we begin to meld several stories into one and look at the broader picture, it’s easy to see that the United States, whether it’s through incompetence or by design, could very well fall into a “third world” type of food crisis that could have been averted through careful planning and foresight - something the Bush administration has lacked since they came into power. If all of the above should come true and we do enter a period of famine and food riots in the US, ask yourselves who will benefit? Why is our own government refusing to prepare us for disaster? Why have we created a situation masked as “energy conservation” that has turned much of our farmland to corn production for biofuel production when solid scientific evidence demonstrates that our current turn to biofuels actually worsens the overall situation?
A Biofuel Reality Check; A Sane Voice from Iowa Farm Country
Most of what is being marketed as “Green Fuel” is not green and sustainable at all. We must study the context of agriculture and processing from a whole systems perspective. True green energy can only be produced within a well-designed sustainable ecology. This type of analysis, policy and action is not taking place through any official channels. Without such whole systems science, the mad rush to biofuels will be as damaging to the environment and global climate as the present global petro-chemical economy. All sides of this important discussion need to seek a factual and scientific basis for policy decisions and new energy enterprise.
We need an intelligent biofuel reality check. The first fact to face is that it is biologically, physically and mathematically impossible to replace fossil fuel with biofuel. U of Mass. Biologist Jeffrey Dukes calculated that the fossil fuels we presently burn in one year were produced from stores of organic matter “containing 44Å~10 to the 18 grams of carbon, which is more than 400 times the net primary productivity of the planet’s current biota.” In plain and simple English, this means that every year we use four centuries’ worth of planetary plant and animal matter that were converted into fossil fuel over many millions of years. Every single barrel of oil replaces 25,000 man hours of human labor energy. The idea that we can simply replace fossil fuel and the extraordinary power density it provides with a fast market shift to “green” energy is the stuff of wild science fiction. There is simply no rational substitute for cutting back on energy consumption. The most important step toward a sustainable Post Petrol Paradigm is to initiate resource conservation on a heroic global scale. A truly sustainable society requires a very radical departure from the present energy consumption paradigm. To just change fuels, without changing the underlying social and economic paradigm is an absurd folly.
Fossil fuel substitutes such as ethanol and biodiesel are being sought frantically all over the planet. Most decision makers in government and industry are not ready to face the hard decisions that climate change and effective, scientific, long term environmental management demands. In many cases biofuel conversion amounts to a cure that is a bigger problem than the petroleum problem. Many biofuel evangelists are as strident in their denial of scientific reality and hard facts as many petroleum executives are in their denial of peak oil. (To understand the folly of bio-fuels, this is a must-read article!) MUCH MORE
Is there anything we can do as individuals to mitigate this situation? Yes, attempt to build-up your food supplies so your family has a better chance at survival. Global warming and weather patterns are progressively getting worse as evidenced by the Midwest flooding, drought, and a very real global fresh water shortage. Today, CNN reported that another huge chunk of the Antarctic ice shelf has collapsed - and another piece the size of Connecticut, “is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice.” LINK
I am nothing more than a patriotic American that is doing whatever I can to further the cause of democracy, the rule of law, and am absolutely outraged on how the Bush administration is defying our Congress, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights! Footnote: I write in a style that I believe is appropriate in today's world where we can't trust the Mainstream News Media, and rather than concentrating on one article alone, which may or may not receive the exposure and emphasis it should, I prefer to meld several relevant stories together, that each taken alone may not expose the entire situation, but when taken-in as a whole, tend to give the reader a better understanding of the subject. One article or story alone does not represent the "Big Picture" - but when several are effectively tied-together it often reveals a trend or broader view of the subject matter that is important to completely understand any given situation. http://justanothercoverup.com/
In the above article, I mentioned that we need to stockpile wheat and halt exports until we do. We could also import wheat from Canada in the short-term as we work to build-up our own stockpile. On the surface, it sounds like I'm stating we should let people go hungry until we stockpile our own reserves.
The food crisis the world faces is as much a national security threat to us as it is to other countries - and with the concentration of millions of people in cities, we face a particular vulnerability for most if not all of our large metropolitan areas; We have an enormous ability to grow and STORE huge quantities of wheat and still be able to export the surplus rather than selling much of our production on the open market. It would also help to stabilize rising food costs in our own country.
Granted, the first year we implemented such a policy, on a global basis, we would face one year or possibly two where our wheat exports were slightly diminished. The above would have to be accomplished via turning more farmland to wheat production, however, in the long-term, if there is a continuation of drought conditions (which are predicted) and adverse weather patterns, by stockpiling our own supply - we mitigate the chances of famine in our own country and help to retain the ability to spring back the next year IF conditions are favorable to again produce an excess amount of wheat that can be used to supplement other counties who are experiencing famine.
If we allow ourselves to be exposed to famine, considering the consequences and the subsequent social unrest and the possibility of riots that would occur throughout the country, there's a huge possibility it would impact our ability to replenish our own supplies and would diminish our own ability to spring-back when and if conditions improve. Further, as our popularity across the world suffers and considering the tense conditions that exist because of our current political ideology - I also believe that it's essential that we have the ability to sustain our own population in the event of a boycott of the US based on future military deployments and war that are possible if the GOP should win the 2008 Presidential elections.
From a humanitarian standpoint, we do have a responsibility to help those who are less fortunate than us, but risking our own survival and placing ourselves at risk when other countries are curtailing exports in the face of diminished supplies impacts our own national security to the point that it has the possibility to plunge our own country into a situation where recovery becomes hard - or downright impossible if we allow the US to continue with a policy that risks our own survival. Food is as much a national security issue as oil is – which we do stockpile in the strategic oil reserve, but short-sighted politicians that favor profit over the safety and welfare of our own citizens is nothing short of a recipe for disaster. If we stockpile oil because it impacts national security – why wouldn’t the same type of policy also be considered as it pertains to food? What good is it to have the ability to put gas in your auto while ignoring the fact that humans need “fuel” too, and in my opinion, one is worthless without the other.
William Cormier
by
William Cormier (90 articles, 4 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 220 comments)
on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 8:20:31 PM
Not that we do not have good reason to be alarmed and to take action to resolve the world's growing problems. Obviously, we do. There are huge problems that have been caused by the greed and folly of careless, short-sighted and thoughtless people in power, not only in this country, but all over the world.
However, we shouldn't let fear be our rallying cry, and we should not fall into dispair and fear that catastrophy is unavoidable.
Actually, we can turn all this horrible stuff around in fairly short order, IF we would only face the fact that our partisan political-economic system has become fatal to truly representative government, and if we would then enable our government to be of, by and for the people and set a truly good example for the rest of the world.
But that will take acknowledging what must be done, and having the courage and the faith to do it. And the way to do it has been provided for us:
