Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger. And if you care, eat less meat

[RedEarth]

Never mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession that is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch. You have probably seen the figures by now: the price of rice has risen by three-quarters over the past year, that of wheat by 130%. There are food crises in 37 countries. One hundred million people, according to the World Bank, could be pushed into deeper poverty by the high prices.

But I bet that you have missed the most telling statistic. At 2.1bn tonnes, the global grain harvest broke all records last year - it beat the previous year's by almost 5%. The crisis, in other words, has begun before world food supplies are hit by climate change. If hunger can strike now, what will happen if harvests decline?

There is plenty of food. It is just not reaching human stomachs. Of the 2.13bn tonnes likely to be consumed this year, only 1.01bn, according to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation, will feed people.

I am sorely tempted to write another column about biofuels. From this morning all sellers of transport fuel in the United Kingdom will be obliged to mix it with ethanol or biodiesel made from crops. The World Bank points out that "the grain required to fill the tank of a sports utility vehicle with ethanol ... could feed one person for a year". This year global stockpiles of cereals will decline by around 53m tonnes; this gives you a rough idea of the size of the hunger gap. The production of biofuels will consume almost 100m tonnes, which suggests that they are directly responsible for the current crisis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/food.biofuels

.....you also might want to check your Ecological Footprint......

http://www.myfootprint.org/en/

[unpossibles]

1. recommending

but be prepared for flames

[navarth]

2. k & r. my life has improved since I went vegetarian

and it weren't easy. me loves them burgers!!

but no more. moral and health issues made me stop. mostly the moral issues.

flames coming? I'll use them to grill some veggies.

[TriggerGal]

4. I have mine ready ...

[napoleon_in_rags]

5. The health issues have been the biggest incentive for me.

I was overweight, and lost about 30 pounds. I'm not sure how much of it was meat itself, the main thing is being a vegetarian keeps me from going to places like burger king. But its a great diet, I'm never going back.

[navarth]

3. I hear we'd be better off if we used hemp for bio fuels...

listen to the squealing of the pigs if anybody proposes that.

[napoleon_in_rags]

6. Recommended. nt

[Hannah Bell]

7. I don't see how the writer says, "there's plenty of food," it's just not

getting to the poor, & then says "eat less meat."

It's not a resource problem, it's a political problem. Landless poor people in a world market where food prices are set globally, for profit - can't eat.

[Hannah Bell]

8. To put it more clearly, my non-meat-eating has no effect on the price

of grain to the global poor. I have money; they don't. If I don't eat meat, it drops the total demand for grain, reducing the price & theoretically, profit. all else being equal, farmers cut back acreage in grain, because they can't make enough to make it worth their while to produce (as has been happening with wheat).


It doesn't produce some "extra" grain that goes to the poor. The market = customers who can pay the global price: inputs + labor + profit.

The poor have too little money - their demand doesn't count, because they can't pay - they're effectively outside the market.

The solutions are political.

[MISSDem]

11. What are you trying to say with all of those words?

I didn't understand your point.

[Hannah Bell]

14. The remedy proposed: not eating meat - doesn't

provide the poor with more grain.

They lack grain because the international price is too high for them, not because cows are eating all the grain.

[grasswire]

9. I'm trying to figure out how to be low carb and a vegetarian

Can't eat many carbs for reasons of blood sugar. The substitutes for meat -- grains, beans, etc., are all full of carbs. What am I to eat?

[MISSDem]

12. complex carbs are not bad for you.

Eat all you want. But do eat the starchy, sticky ones, like rice, at noon rather than at night.

[Skittles]

13. no carbs are bad for you

eating too much is what is bad for you

[grasswire]

15. I'm limited to this:

1/2 slice whole grain bread in the morning.

four saltines at night with peanut butter.

No rice, no pasta, no corn or carrots or potatoes or wheat products, no oatmeal, nada, nada, nada. The carbs in low fat dairy products just must be tolerated, as well as the carbs in vegetables.

Please don't assume that everyone not eating carbs has a problem with overeating.

[Skittles]

16. I just get tired of people thinking carbs are evil

plenty of us eat tons of carbs and are HEALTHY

[MISSDem]

10. An inconvenient truth, be vegetarian. Another benefit to it among

having lower lipids and borderline low blood pressure. The best benefit though is to be able to eat with no guilt, ie, you don't have to chase down your supper and kill it against it's will.

[gear_head]

17. the world should stop depending on the US .

the rest of the world should stop eating meat