"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."
water is becoming a commodity also.
8 comments:
really good point- I can not believe that media is not noting how Inflated this grain market is right now...even the college kids next door pointed out to me that Beer ( due to hops) is way up....I would not know - I am having enough trouble paying for milk.....
( hmm, someone did not take a break after all....glad to see you...)
BTW if you live near a co-op some of the grains ( ie granola ) are still not double- reg grocery store- Double...
me I just went back on the South Beach Diet ( no carbs, or only on weekend)- better for my budget....
But feeding 6-6 has become a fulltime struggle- but teenagers live on carbs....breads , grains and pasta.....
( even catfood and dogfood is through the roof)
okay I am done grumping....
So much of this is driven by the high cost of fuel - again, it is essential to buy locally in order to think globally. We cannot support huge supermarkets which, by there existance, help drive the cost of food (grains, produce, meats, poultry) through the roof. Purchasing from local farmers at local farmers markets, buying seasonally, are essential.
The price of grain to make bread now dictates what kind of bread many can eat. There are food riots beginning to happen around the world. Some of it is being blamed on switching to growing for Bio Fuel.
In Egypt the police are issuing bread allotments. Bush donated another $200 million to feed those that need it but there will never be enough.
I won't get started but you know the water wars are also growing. India is having major problems and I believe China wanting to secure the Himalayas which at the least is China and India's water source is the real reason for stepping on Tibet!
Anyway knowing things are going to break down and many areas are having water wars in the States already plus acid rain and pollution and other very real contaminate possibilities I posted the other day of the cheap easy ways to ensure your potable water the other day. Be prepared just in case1
I think the arguments by government officials about what is causing the food shortages are specious. It feels like their way of changing the real subject. Wars cause people to starve. Famine and drought caused by climate change cause starvation. So, to a lesser degree, do turning corn into gasoline, and spending on guns and bullets, rather than food aid. And No, this is not the sexy story for MSM.
carol
And they are preparing to worsen every single thing with another world war at a time when man and the planet can no longer survive it as the average person would to!
Jet has a good post up at Sirens about this issue too. People that care about others are worried about this and it's very real.
It makes my stomach lurch to think about the severity of hunger and the resources that are being squandered that could feed millions of people every day.
Ethanol is a joke for christs sake and it's being pushed by lobbyists for Farmers and the folks who will of course make money off it. It takes more energy to make a gallon of the shit than it gives in return. Ridiculous..friggin ridiculous.
and we're not immune
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