Peak Oil is You
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Page added on January 16, 2013
Lester Brown, Author – Full Planet, Empty Plates
When gas prices were at or near record highs a few months ago in the US, that got people’s attention. What about food prices? Have you noticed them rising? Are you making different choices in the supermarket? If not, it might be because of two things.
One, in America so much of our food is processed, packaged and marketed, that raw commodity prices make up only a fraction of the price of the food we buy. In other countries, especially the less developed ones, an increase in the price of rice or corn can have a major effect on how much a family can afford to eat.
Two, Americans spend only 9% percent of their income on food, while millions around the world spend 50-70%. Millions of households now routinely schedule foodless days each week-days when they will not eat at all. A recent survey by Save the Children shows that 14% of families in Peru now have foodless days. India, 24%. Nigeria, 27%.
In his newest book, FULL PLANET, EMPTY PLATES, LESTER BROWN writes, “The U.S. Great Drought of 2012 has raised corn prices to the highest level in history. The world price of food, which has already doubled over the last decade, is slated to climb higher, ushering in a new wave of food unrest. This year’s corn crop shortfall will accelerate the transition from the era of abundance and surpluses to an era of chronic scarcity. As food prices climb, the worldwide competition for control of land and water is intensifying. In this new world, access to food is replacing access to oil as an overriding concern of governments. Food is the new oil, land is the new gold. Welcome to the new geopolitics of food.”
5 Comments on "Lester Brown, Author – Full Planet, Empty Plates"
ken nohe on Wed, 16th Jan 2013 12:04 pm
There were foodless weeks in Europe until the beginning of the 19C. If people are unable to control reproduction themselves, nature will do it. It won’t be “nice” but it is a necessity. A 10 billion people earth even if it was possible would be hell!
BillT on Wed, 16th Jan 2013 2:24 pm
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have left the stables on their sturdy mounts…
rollin on Wed, 16th Jan 2013 3:36 pm
We throw away half our food while people starve. There may be somewhat of a global economy, but there is no global community.
Kenz300 on Wed, 16th Jan 2013 4:59 pm
If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child.
Access to family planning services needs to be available to all that want it.
Seems like it is the poorest people in the world having the most children trapping them all in a life of poverty, hunger and despair.
GregT on Thu, 17th Jan 2013 9:12 pm
Food prices here have sky-rocketted over the past five years. Everyone is aware of it, but few actually stop to think about how much they have actually gone up.
It is reported that over 46 million people in the US are now on food stamps. One in less than seven people, in the country with the largest economy in the world, cannot afford food.
In Canada, we do not have food stamp programs like in the US, but we do have food banks. They used to cater predominantly to the homeless, but more and more they are supplying food to the working poor. Ten years ago this was unimaginable.