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Thursday, April 17, 2008

if you think i am overreacting

when i say there is ALREADY a food emergency, you're kidding yourself. if you think you are safe, think again. sure WE still have plenty of food, but the cost is going up by the second.

rice. people whose diets consist mainly of rice can barely afford it these days. RICE. i'm not talking caviar here.

the cost of gas is through the roof. how do you think your food gets to the grocery store? well a bunch of stuff happens first, THEN it gets loaded on a truck. what makes that truck run? you got it.

i heard on the news the other day, company owners are doing everything in their power to get the most out of the truck runs. waiting until that truck is ABSOLUTELY filled (for one), putting regulators on them so they can't go over 62 mph and adding something to the roof that makes it aerodynamically better. (this is all good practice ANYWAY. we should have been doing these things all along)

wait a couple of weeks and check your grocery tab out. it's hard now. wait
(if YOU are having a hard time putting food on YOUR table, think about someone who is trying to support a family on minimum wage OR LESS)

As Hunger Rises, Chew on This
By Terry J. Allen
A diet of bread and water used to be emblematic of poverty. Now a global food crisis is transforming that meager meal into a luxury for much of the world.
The prices of the world’s three main grains — corn, rice and wheat — more than doubled last year. The causes include poor harvests linked to climate change, diversion of cropland to biofuels, population increases, rising meat consumption, emerging diseases and soaring fuel prices.
In a globalized economy, issues of food scarcity and inflation should be a matter not only of humanitarian concern, but also of national security. A food crisis is exploding.
Last year, spiraling food prices sparked protests and riots in Cameroon, Egypt, Guinea, India, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Children in Yemen marched to draw attention to their hunger. Farmers in Thailand slept in fields to prevent rice crop theft. Hundreds of construction workers in the United Arab Emirates torched cars and ransacked buildings to demand higher wages to counter surging inflation.
The problem is not just price but actual shortage. World grain stores have not been this low since the end of World War II. Argentina and Vietnam have risked treaty violations to impose protectionist trade caps and taxes aimed at stabilizing supply and stanching inflation. The Philippine government asked fast food restaurants to serve less rice to ease shortages.
The poorest are the worst hit, especially as the lifeline U.N. World Food Program (WFP) frays. In late March, it warned that unless donor countries immediately kick in $500 million to offset price hikes, WFP will start rationing food aid that feeds 73 million people — from Darfur’s genocide refugees to Haiti’s children......

3 comments:

Commander Zaius said...

Not helping matters are Americans who think their ethanol powered car is a saving the planet. I read some place that when you take into consideration the energy it takes to convert corn into enthanol you are actually far deeper in a hole than the usual gas car.

Anonymous said...

how can there be a food shortage? I heard just the other day that it's a sin to use birth control - that large families are God's blessing - and that global climate change is a myth concocted by Al Gore.

Unknown said...

bb, i'm doing my part. i'm going to work from home one or two days a week in the future. seriously, i think this may be the way to go. that is for those it's possible for.

that right rick. NO birth control. NO education in that area either. start pumping those babies out left and right. then see where the church (AND GOVERNMENT) is when you need help.

climate change IS a myth. so what if the polar ice caps are melting and animals are dying.