Britain: World Food Crisis a ‘Silent Tsunami’
Soaring global food prices could unleash a “silent tsunami” that would plunge 100 million people who previously did not require help to buy food into hunger and poverty, the top United Nations food official said at a conference on the growing crisis in London. “This is the new face of hunger,” the official, Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the World Food Program, added. “The response calls for large-scale, high-level action by the global community.” She was one of 25 experts in the field who attended the conference hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown at his Downing Street office. Prices for basic foods like rice and wheat have risen rapidly since the last quarter of 2007, leading to riots and protests in a number of countries. In the latest unrest, demonstrators took to the streets in the Afghan city of Jalalabad and the Gabonese capital, Libreville. A statement from Mr. Brown’s office released after the meeting said that delegates had pledged to work with the G-8 and European Union toward a global strategy to tackle price rises and increase support for the world’s poorest nations. There was also agreement for a “more selective approach” to biofuels, cited by some for causing the food price surge.
This article alone speaks volumns about how "screwed up" we are on this planet these days. With all of our technology and advancements in everything(except common sense), here we are in this century facing food shortages. Somebody, please, "wake me up and tell me this is a dream". What rocket scientist came up with the idea of "burning up our food supply to make fuel"? Can YOU say "ethanol"? Along with "weapons of mass destruction" and "global warming", ethanol is the biggest F YOU this century.
Mankind needs a "major wake up call" and, "we better get one real soon".
"Opyn Your Eyes, Opyn Your Mindz",
1 comment:
Actually, we are already seeing this in Central Florida. Chris, who does the Conway blog on Orlando Sentinel, blogged yesterday that a local food bank has an average of 20 new families signing up each week for assistance now. They are seeing middle-class income families signing up for help, not just lower-income families. Also, CNN reported this morning that COSTCO and SAMS CLUB are rationing rice per customer. (Limit of four 20-lb bags per customer.) Although your first thought might be that isn't that big of a deal, is it the calm before the storm?
Another thing that is beginning to impact us is that more farmers are selling their corn products for ethanol use (since it pays higher than corn sold for food consumption). Some farmers are also choosing to limit or reduce their production of non-corn foods in favor of increasing their corn production for ethanol use. We really need to re-think the ethanol solution. It's better for the environment, but what is the overall impact??
These are most certainly interesting times we are living in, my friend. :)
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