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Famine stalks the earth
Said a striking feature article in The Wall Street Journal: "Now and then across the centuries, powerful voices have warned that human activity would overwhelm the earth's resources. The Cassandras [i.e., prophets of doom] always proved wrong. Each time, there were new resources to discover, new technologies to propel growth. Today the old fears are back" (March 26, 2008, emphasis added throughout).
A UN agency projects that our planet's population will grow by 1.4 billion more people by 2025. Significantly more food and water is being consumed by the average individual. A middle class is growing rapidly in countries like China and India, resulting in increased demand for high-protein diets.
The article continued: "Demand for resources has soared. If supplies don't keep pace, prices are likely to climb. Further, economic growth in rich and poor nations alike could suffer, and some fear violent conflicts could occur."
Other mainstream magazines and newspapers are covering this major story. Time magazine stated: "Prices of rice, wheat and other basic foodstuffs are soaring beyond the reach of the world's poor, triggering riots, pleas for aid and fears of a deepening threat to security. Add this to the list of items that could threaten world peace: food" (March 17, 2008).
The Economist weighed in with these insightful comments: "High food prices do help poor farmers, but they also hurt the more numerous category of people (poor city dwellers as well as landless rural folk) who must buy food to survive . . . The World Food Programme (WFP), a UN agency, has just issued an urgent appeal for $500m, to cover higher food costs. America's Agency for International Development (USAID), a huge financer of food aid, is asking for $350m. The short term outlook seems grim" (March 29, 2008).
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