For so long, we have lived in plenty. All any of us need do is look outside our front doors and see wealth. It pours onto our streets, can be seen in our architecture, our food production, our entertainment, in the things we buy and in the things we throw away.
The fact is, that even though 44 million of us are currently receiving food stamp support, we actually throw away 40% of our food. So, for ironic as it seems, we can't seem to afford to feed ourselves, but at the same time, we apparently have plenty to throw away.
But this way of life is changing for us all. For any number of reasons, including climate change, population growth, tapped out technology, strained water supplies, and peak oil, America is being stretched to the limits. And it is America that feeds the world.
We are looking at almost 7 billion people on the planet today. By 2044 (a mere 33 years away) we expect to see 9 billion - that's 9 billion people that will need food, clothing, shelter, and health care, among many, many other things. That 77% increase in population will only be met by a 70% increase in food production.
Estimatations are fine, but the fact of the matter is, that there really is no way to accurately calculate food production simply because there are so many unknown variables that cannot be measured such as crop failure due to floods, droughts, heat waves, and unpredictable growing seasons. When you top it off with any number of black swan events, national and international economic instability, political instability, civil unrest, riots and revolutions, we’re looking at a future that resides completely outside the scope of reasonable "guesses."
Expansive attempts to feed the world using high yield, genetically modified, drought resistant seed, predicting international “hotspots” where food production just may be impossible, the reduction of natural resources, coupled with the current levels of hunger, make food production predictability even more unlikely.
And the anticipated changes are extreme. One reports suggests that by 2050, Chicago will have the same climate as east Texas. And the speed at which people, animals and plants must adapt to these changes is overwhelming. Previously dry and arid areas are now subject to heavy rains and flooding, while in many other areas the reverse is true. The Great Plains, where so much of our wheat is grown, is drying up, reducing production. Planting is delayed due to late frosts, and sudden, unexpected freezes take out large areas of once reliable high capacity food production. And these changes are minor compared to what we can expect.
People are just now beginning to understand the “food crunch.” The Middle East, North Africa, and many European countries are in revolt due to food shortage, austerity measures, and uncertain economies that are tied to astronomical debt, food inflation, fuel inflation and very high rates of unemployment. But understanding fully what this means is slow in coming. We are watching riots over the high price and lack of availability of food, but seem to fail to understand that the food itself is scarce, and is not just subject to the whims of governmental and market manipulation. We are somehow failing to understand that these are the simple realities of “the perfect storm” which is upon us.
We feel the surge of higher fuel prices, but fail to understand that we are running out of oil, and that a large portion of the foods we have typically consumed is now being used to produce biofuel. And to put the cream in the coffee, we’ve failed to keep up with research and development in the areas of food production, fuel alternatives and are struggling with governmental administrations that treat the population of the United States as children that need to be protected from truth, rather than as individuals entitled to it. In fact, it seems as if the system would rather maintain a façade of economic and political health and, in essence, go down with the ship, rather than face the reactions of a population shaken awake from food and fuel shortages.
I suppose the one thing that keeps us in check, is the perception that as long as it is happening “over there,” we are immune. But “over there” has expanded to those nation states that we have identified as friends and allies. Australia is in trouble; Greece, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, and France – all friends – are failing. China can’t feed its population any longer, nor can it produce the fuel it needs to keep expanding. Russia stopped grain exports last year to make sure it could feed its own population, and US grain production was down.
Australia is experiencing supermarket price wars, competition with overseas markets, water scarcity and rising food costs. They, like the United States, are struggling to keep farmers farming, making it possible for foreign investors and producers to overtake and control the market, putting their own food supplies in jeopardy.
Failing infrastructure, the competition for foods as biofuel, land grabbing and production exports is crating a new globally driven landscape. South American doesn’t grow food for South American interests anymore, it grow food for foreign interests who have taken out 99 year leases on farm land, promising all kinds of infrastructure improvements, and employment in exchange – most of which is never realized. The same is true for Africa. Neo-colonialism.
In response to the US food shortages, high costs of food and fuel, Lyndon La Rouche is calling for emergency food-price controls claiming that the “US and the world is being driven into hyperinflation...” As far as I’m concerned, this is too little, too late. A call for price controls will only make the situation much, much worse. Instead, I propose the immediate education of the entire population in soil management, sustainable living technologies, and self-reliant living. Perhaps, PERHAPS, in a generation, our children may have the ability to feed themselves to a certain extent and won’t have to rely upon a failing political and economic system that may not make it one more generation out.
But, this is simply wishful thinking. Governments typically don’t do anything they should do, but will ALWAYS do whatever it takes to sustain themselves – including presenting facades, lying and misrepresenting the truth, all the while arming themselves against inevitable revolt.
Chew on this a while: Food and fuel production are on the way down. It’s time to understand this reality and learn to adapt to the inevitable changes. In spite of what they tell us, and what they want us to believe – it isn’t getting any better.
Let’s pick up our shovels and hoes, wipe the illusion from our vision, and start to dig ourselves out of this mess together.
The Oakland Institute has published a report worth reading about global food shortages and what we can all expect. Oakland Institute: www.oaklandinstitute.org, report from http://media.oaklandinstitute.org.
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