Just think, today there are 230,000 more babies to feed than there were
yesterday, and the price of crude has risen to the highest level ever,
$116
a barrel. By this time next month there will be 6 million more mouths to
feed. There is no solution in sight. In the meantime while coal, oil
shale, and oil remain undeveloped throughout the USA because of
environmental and other laws, the USA, the world's super food producer, is
converting 18 per cent of its grain to ethanol for fuel in 2008. This
will
grow to 48 per cent by 2015.
The news media will soon be showing us the starving children as we drive
our
trucks and SUV's but will not address the root cause, overpopulation. The
plotted curves for population, pollution, and energy consumption have
reached the exponential growth rate, but food production is declining
because food grains are being used for biofuel production. It has always
been questionable that increased food production would keep up with
population growth, but the factor that is accelerating the shortage of
food
is the use of grains for fuel! This is a major negative force that was
not
addressed 40 years ago by the Limits to Growth scientists. Critical mass
is
here and has arrived ahead of the predicted schedule!
snipped:
Hunger bashed in the front gate of Haiti's presidential palace. Hunger
poured onto the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and police.
Hunger sent the country's prime minister packing.
Haiti's hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become
fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of
reach,
spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian
staples such as beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.
Saint Louis Meriska's children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their
only meal two days ago and then went without any food the following day.
His
eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said
forlornly,
"They look at me and say, 'Papa, I'm hungry,' and I have to look away.
It's
humiliating and it makes you angry."
That anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis not only is being
felt among the poor, but also is eroding the gains of the working and
middle
classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on
fragile governments.
In Cairo, the military is being put to work baking bread as rising food
prices threaten to become the spark that ignites wider anger at a
repressive
government. In Burkina Faso and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, food
riots are breaking out like never before. And in reasonably prosperous
Malaysia, the ruling coalition was nearly ousted by disgruntled voters who
cited food and fuel hikes as their primary concerns.Hunger bashed in the
front gate of Haiti's presidential palace. Hunger poured onto the streets,
burning tires and taking on soldiers and police. Hunger sent the country's
prime minister packing.
Haiti's hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become
fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of
reach,
spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian
staples such as beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.
Saint Louis Meriska's children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their
only meal two days ago and then went without any food the following day.
His
eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said
forlornly,
"They look at me and say, 'Papa, I'm hungry,' and I have to look away.
It's
humiliating and it makes you angry."
That anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis not only is being
felt among the poor, but also is eroding the gains of the working and
middle
classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on
fragile governments.
In Cairo, the military is being put to work baking bread as rising food
prices threaten to become the spark that ignites wider anger at a
repressive
government. In Burkina Faso and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, food
riots are breaking out like never before. And in reasonably prosperous
Malaysia, the ruling coalition was nearly ousted by disgruntled voters who
cited food and fuel hikes as their primary concerns.
"It's the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years," said Jeffrey
Sachs, the economist and special adviser to the United Nations secretary
general, Ban Ki Moon. "It's a big deal, and it's obviously threatening a
lot
of governments. There are a number of governments on the ropes and I think
there's more political fallout to come."
Indeed, as it roils developing nations, the spike in commodity prices -
the
biggest since the administration of Richard Nixon - has pitted the globe's
poorer south against the relatively wealthy north, adding to demands for
reform of rich nations' farm and environmental policies.
But experts say there are few quick fixes to a crisis tied to so many
factors, such as strong demand for food from emerging economies like
China's; rising oil prices; and the diversion of food resources to make
biofuels.
There are no scripts on how to handle the crisis, either. In Asia,
governments are putting in place measures to limit hoarding of rice after
some shoppers panicked at price rises and bought up everything they could.
Even in Thailand, which produces 10 million more tons of rice than it
consumes and is the world's largest rice exporter, supermarkets have
placed
signs limiting the amount of rice shoppers are allowed to buy.
"This is a perfect storm," President Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador
said
Wednesday at the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Cancún, Mexico.
"How long can we withstand the situation? We have to feed our people and
commodities are becoming scarce. This scandalous storm might become a
hurricane that could upset not only our economies, but also the stability
of
our countries."
In Asia, if Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia steps down,
which is looking increasingly likely amid post-election turmoil within his
party, he may be that region's first high-profile political victim of fuel
and food price inflation.
In Indonesia, fearing protests, the government recently revised its 2008
budget, increasing the amount it will spend on food subsidies by 2.7
trillion rupiah, or about $280 million.
"The biggest concern is food riots," said H.S. Dillon, a former adviser to
the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. Referring to small but widespread
protests sparked by a rise in soybean prices in January, he said, "It has
happened in the past and can happen again."
Last month in Senegal, one of Africa's oldest and most stable democracies,
police officers in riot gear beat and used tear gas against people
protesting high food prices and later raided a television station that
broadcast images of the event.
Many Senegalese have expressed anger at the government of President
Abdoulaye Wade for spending lavishly on roads and five-star hotels for an
Islamic summit that took place last month while many people are unable to
afford rice, fish and cooking oil.
"Why are these riots happening?" asked Arif Husain, senior food security
analyst at the World Food Program, which has issued urgent appeals for
donations to help the Haitis of the world. "The human instinct is to
survive
and people are going to do no matter what to survive. And if you're hungry
you get angry quicker. We see that around the world."
more at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/17/news/Haiti.php
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