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2) "The world's food situation is bleak...The world has faced periodic bouts when it looked as if population growth would outstrip the food supply. Each time, food production has grown to meet demand. This time it might not be so easy.... mass starvation."
A rather unsettling phrase to read over your morning coffee: mass starvation. We have to stop subsidizing intensive crop biofuels, cut back on meat consumption, and seriously consider broad-based individual permaculture, aka edible landscapes. And it still might not be enough to feed everyone, because the Green Revolution of the 1960s depended on petroleum-fueled farm implements and petroleum-based fertilizers; see 1). (I've heard various reports on organic productivity; I know that animal-powered farms exist, but no one makes extreme claims about their yields per acre. Fuel cell tractors, anyone?)
This is the third time in the last few weeks when I've been startled not by the facts I'm hearing, but by the relatively mainstream source. (The other times: hearing the heads of large energy and chemical corporations at last week's Carbon Forum admit how screwed the environment is, even as they outline how they'll fight for the right to continue to bleed the world dry; and this article on how America may be on the brink of revolution.)
1 comment:
Hey Anya,
You might want to research Texas. The government may be paying off farmers to destroy their crops. ie. corn to keep prices for corn from going down.
These crops that are being destroyed perhaps can be used to feed those in need.
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