Comments on: The Coming Famine and Hunger

By: Sue Melin

Sue Melin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:20:59 +0000

The other day, my preschooler walked up to me, with some corn kernels in her hand, and said, in solemn tones, “Mommy, there’s going to be a famine–if we don’t plant this we will die.”
My teen age daughter, looking freaked out said, “You know, mom, I have had this eerie feeling that we need to plant all of the corn that we possibly can. Now.” Well, guess what I had been feeling in my soul for days before they both said this? Coincidence?

By: Frugal

Frugal — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:51:02 +0000

Totally agree. Becoming vegetarian is the best way to conserve food and reduce CO2 footprint.

There have been MANY callers for great disasters, and there may be more. But I suspect that until the human growth reaches the end-point of exponential growth, all the naysayers will continue to be wrong, but RIGHT in the long term.

Crash will eventually come, but no one knows the exact date. As the Bible says, the DAY will come like a thief, and no one would know.

I will blog this later, but the reasonings are in my “Why stock markets crash” post.

By: Joseph Browning

Joseph Browning — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:10:22 +0000

Just planted my garden. If one has the space, it’s becoming more and more a fiscally responsible thing. Tastes great, gives a little exercise, and saves a little money.

By: The 31 year old MBA student

The 31 year old MBA student — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:42:03 +0000

There is a lot of good information here, from the presenter to the comments. I especially agree with Traciatim, that a managed and well thought out strategy for modertation and a mind for sustainability could help offset our current population levels.

Still, people will not be controlled the way they need to for this to happen, and I too fear a massive die off in 3rd world countries where medical benefits have driven life expectancy and mortality rates beyond what the natural environment can sustain. I was 8 when ‘We are the World’ came out, and I was also heavily impacted by it.

I think there is a chance of a severe degredation in Quality of Life across the planet, in the next few years.

Support local farmers, people, and make smart choices!

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:32:11 +0000

Tried to buy a pot roast lately? I did on Saturday: between Costco & Safeway, I found two of them, neither especially good, both priced well beyond the po’ folks’ food I remember tough cuts of beef used to be. I could have entertained my guests more cheaply this weekend if I’d bought a couple of steaks and cut them into serving-sized pieces!

How ’bout rye flour? Buckwheat flour? Can’t find them on the shelves of ANY grocery store around here–not Trader Joe’s or Sprouts, either.

Granted, no one in America is going to go hungry for not being able to make a loaf of rye bread or a stack of buckwheat pancakes, and sure, we can do without a pot roast. But…uh…??? No low-end beef? No flour to make a good loaf of bread, anywhere? Wha…?

By: Monevator

Monevator — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:34:38 +0000

I invest in agricultural commodities and am looking to buy into agricultural sector stocks too (tractor makers, monsanto and similar), if they get a bit cheaper. But I can see me handing back a lot of any gains in higher grocery bills and even sending cheques to calls for food aid etc as poor nations suffer.

One thing to remember though is it isn’t a static game – people have ignored agriculture for years, but now a lot of money will be going in. So you can expect to see better machinery, new acreage, etc. That will help reduce some of the price pressure, in time.

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By: traineeinvestor

traineeinvestor — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:59:47 +0000

For people at the economic margins, inflation is a major issue. Large inreases in the prices of most basic necessities (partly due to rising demand meeting relatively inelastic demand and partly due to currency fluctuations) has the potential to cause significant social unrest in a number of countries.

By: VG

VG — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:52:01 +0000

This seems like already happening. I read in the news today that Iflation in India hit 7% mark….that’s outrageous…

By: jasonp

jasonp — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:03:19 +0000

Predictions of worldwide famine have been made since the 60s. The latest that I know of is Lester Brown’s ‘Outgrowing the Earth’, which is quite well-written and scared the crap out of me. However, they’ve never come true, and there’s still a lot of potential for making agriculture more efficient on a small scale.

By: Traciatim

Traciatim — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:41:59 +0000

So, if you are that worried about the problem what are you doing to be part of the solution?

You can reduce your meat intake, since meat takes a huge amount of resources. You can increase your CO2 output, since high CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere increase food yields dramatically. You can use local farmers markets and eat locally grown in season foods. Possibly join a CSA in your area so all your vegetables would be locally grown. You also can just wait for solar cycle 24 to ramp up since we’re at the suns lowest output right now and things should ramp up in the next year or two and peak near 2012-2014 or something if I’m looking correctly, which should also increase yields quite nicely.