http://www.salon.com/life/sustainable_f ... es_of_food
"In an age of super-sized meals and obesity epidemics, food-shortage doomsday scenarios always seem a little surreal. Backed by half a century of agricultural abundance, it's easy to imagine that cheap food will permanently abound. But in a new book, "Empires of Food," academic Evan Fraser and journalist Andrew Rimas show us that we are not the first advanced civilization to have a hubristic, misplaced confidence that we'll always be fed.
By tracing the rise and fall of a number preindustrial empires, the authors show us just how much trouble we're in. The Romans, the Mesopotamians and the medieval Europeans, for example, all had agricultural systems that, much like ours, were yoked to complex technology and highly specialized trade networks. And each of those societies eventually failed because they hadn't accounted for soil erosion, growing overpopulation and weather changes. Climate change, anyone?"
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Empires of Food
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Re: Empires of Food
by Narz » Sat 28 Aug 2010, 16:17:42
When you suppose the famines will begin? I don't want to stock up on hot buttered popcorn too early nor, of course, do I want to wait until it's too late.
“Seek simplicity but distrust it”
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Narz - Intermediate Crude
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Re: Empires of Food
by Ludi » Sat 28 Aug 2010, 16:24:35
Personally I think it is likely to be decades before the developed world experiences famine, though poor people in the developed world are experiencing food insecurity and there are approximately 1 billion people starving on the planet now.
So you're probably ok not to stock up on the popcorn, unless you expect to be poor at some point, in my personal opinion.
So you're probably ok not to stock up on the popcorn, unless you expect to be poor at some point, in my personal opinion.
- Ludi
Re: Empires of Food
by sparky » Sat 28 Aug 2010, 18:37:09
.
people in developed countries typically spend 15% of their budget for food
or 10% of their waking time
in the third world , the average is 60% of their budget or 30% of their available time
when it get to above 100% of their earnings , all their time is about getting food
forget personal consumption on education transport , housing or clothing
it's all about the next meal ,
anything else is malnutrition territory , sometimes for years
it get to the line where the little food available is given to the main earner so he can
look for work and earn food
the non producing , women , children elderly are doing with even less
It happened during the great Irish famine when the government road building program paid their workers after a full week work as Victorian morality demanded ,
they had worked for a week eating the very little they had ,
while their family starved
straight famine is very rare and usually happen after wholesale crop failure in a place with
little or expensive transport or man made disruptions
I.E. deliberate policy or the ravage of war
The usual case is the poor section of the population slowly starve
while a majority has enough or just enough
the "malnutrition divide " shift with the seasons and the circumstances
It's the " normal " population control
but in poor countries it's always there
in rich countries , the malnutrition line reappearance above the statistically insignificant
would be the sign of really big trouble
people in developed countries typically spend 15% of their budget for food
or 10% of their waking time
in the third world , the average is 60% of their budget or 30% of their available time
when it get to above 100% of their earnings , all their time is about getting food
forget personal consumption on education transport , housing or clothing
it's all about the next meal ,
anything else is malnutrition territory , sometimes for years
it get to the line where the little food available is given to the main earner so he can
look for work and earn food
the non producing , women , children elderly are doing with even less
It happened during the great Irish famine when the government road building program paid their workers after a full week work as Victorian morality demanded ,
they had worked for a week eating the very little they had ,
while their family starved
straight famine is very rare and usually happen after wholesale crop failure in a place with
little or expensive transport or man made disruptions
I.E. deliberate policy or the ravage of war
The usual case is the poor section of the population slowly starve
while a majority has enough or just enough
the "malnutrition divide " shift with the seasons and the circumstances
It's the " normal " population control
but in poor countries it's always there
in rich countries , the malnutrition line reappearance above the statistically insignificant
would be the sign of really big trouble
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sparky - Intermediate Crude
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Re: Empires of Food
by Narz » Mon 30 Aug 2010, 15:01:24
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'P')ersonally I think it is likely to be decades before the developed world experiences famine, though poor people in the developed world are experiencing food insecurity and there are approximately 1 billion people starving on the planet now.
So you're probably ok not to stock up on the popcorn, unless you expect to be poor at some point, in my personal opinion.
So you're probably ok not to stock up on the popcorn, unless you expect to be poor at some point, in my personal opinion.
I'm already poor (income of about 10K/year) but I still eat well (I spend about 50-60% of my income on food).
The most angering thing to be is that junk food & meat are subsidized while the costs of fresh produce are exceptionally high. This both hurts poor people & anyone who wants to eat healthy.
“Seek simplicity but distrust it”
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Narz - Intermediate Crude
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Re: Empires of Food
by Ludi » Mon 30 Aug 2010, 15:55:56
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '
')I'm already poor (income of about 10K/year) but I still eat well
')I'm already poor (income of about 10K/year) but I still eat well
I guess you really don't need to worry about stocking up for famine.
- Ludi
Re: Empires of Food
by Narz » Thu 02 Sep 2010, 19:01:00
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '
')I'm already poor (income of about 10K/year) but I still eat well
')I'm already poor (income of about 10K/year) but I still eat well
I guess you really don't need to worry about stocking up for famine.
Why, just because I'm thrifty now & can survive pretty well under the current system doesn't seem to speak about the future. If the price of food goes up & my income doesn't I'm in trouble.
“Seek simplicity but distrust it”
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Narz - Intermediate Crude
- Posts: 2360
- Joined: Sat 25 Nov 2006, 04:00:00
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