The empire of cheap food is crumbling

Cid_Yama

You. Will. Not. Be. Able. To. Get. Food. Need this be spelled out any more plainly? It is time to consider that the stage has been set for petroleum-induced famine.

We have "innocently" accommodated rising population with greater and greater food production via technology and the profit motive. But now we have run out of room to grow, as biotechnology, for example, has severe limitations -- major ones being petroleum dependence and topsoil loss. The biggest wild card for our existence is climate change, as we see with floods and other extreme weather affecting our food supply.

We are headed for massive shortages of food and other essentials, mainly brought about by the depletion of geological fossil reserves of cheap energy and water. The situation is demonstrated regularly with easy arithmetic based on statistical indicators from the United Nations, Worldwatch Institute, World Resources Institute, Earth Policy Institute, and numerous governments. Usually the full force of the message is offset by predictions of huge rises in future human population growth that are simple extrapolations of historical trends.

No one can say with certainty that the worst effects of today's crisis will occur tomorrow or by any particular date. But it is irrational to assume there will only be gradual tightening of supplies until some solutions miraculously come to our aid. One ought to at least admit that one year ago few people thought we'd be going in the direction we're going in, this fast, today.

Three days is our average food supply around the modernized world, i.e., for cities and their supermarkets. Long-term food stocks have plummeted: "Cereal stocks that are at their lowest level in 30 years," according to Worldwatch institute in its most recent Vital Signs. This is exacerbated by increasingly weirder weather, compounded by the oil price/supply pressure on food. What can interfere with the three-day situation are truckers on strike (as in Europe), extended/repeated power outages, and the inability of the work force to commute to work.

link
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

Concerned · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2004 Posts: 1536

Nothing that a die off can't fix. Be it war, famine or disease.

That should bring the plague back into proportion to available food supply.

Wonder how safe we are in the first world? I hope I can make it through these tough times ahead. I would really hate to be responsible for a young family Sad

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"Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box."
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Cid_Yama

I would really hate to be responsible for a young family.

Or several based on western consumption.
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

americandream

kjmclark · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 09, 2005 Posts: 318

Hagakure_Leofman

Without disagreeing with your assertion, I'd like to raise a small point Cid_Yama. If you really believed what you were posting, why would you be wasting your time posting it on the internet?

Don't you have better things to do than scaring people on a message board - like getting ready for the said apocalypse?

Jack · Dark Lord Joined: Aug 11, 2004 Posts: 5085

Heineken

Micki

A thought that I have played with; Assuming we want to avoid die-off, why don't people or councils etc plant edible food just about everywhere.
I mean they plant trees and flowers etc. Couldn't at least 50% of all this be edible stuff? Sidewalks could be lined with lettuce and pumpkin and in the parks there could be fruit trees and berry bushes etc.
Maybe I haven't thought this through properly and someone will quickly correct me, but aren't things the way they are just because food is an industry and councils/governments haven't wanted to take away their business by providing free food?
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In suburbia
You cant hide, run with the dogs tonight
In suburbia
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Fishman

It feels absurdly surreal at times watching this ultimate of disasters unfold whilst everyone goes about their business as if nothings wrong.
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Better with Hot popcorn! ( And supplies)

WyoDutch

Back in the days when the first duty of the federal government was to serve (instead of surveil) We, The People... there was a healthy (taxpayer funded) reserve of food products.

Nowdays, the politicians seem to think that it's more important for them to play the role of Daddy Warbucks... tossing penny candys to the scrambling masses, especially if those masses are not taxpaying Murkans.

May 1, 2008: According to the CCC inventory report there are only 5.73 million bushels of wheat in inventory. The concern is not that we are using the remainder of our strategic grain reserves for humanitarian relief. The concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The only thing left in the entire CCC inventory is enough wheat to make about 1/2 of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.

One day later... May 2, 2008 - President Bush on Thursday proposed spending an additional $770 million in emergency food assistance for poor countries, responding to rising food prices that have resulted in social unrest in several nations. The $770 million would be included in next year’s budget, increasing total American food assistance to $2.6 billion, the deputy budget director, Stephen S. McMillin, said in a telephone conference. In the current year, the administration has proposed supplemental spending to bring the total to $2.3 billion, he said
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Cabrone

Serial_Worrier · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2008 Posts: 233

Here here. Keep up the scare-mongering Cid.

Cid_Yama · Last edited by Cid_Yama on Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:57 pm; edited 3 times in total

Actually, I have a post-peak oil lifeboat fully stocked in Texas. But I did this before I realized that we are on the verge of methane armaggedon in the Arctic. I have decided Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan is a much better location, so I am making plans to relocate or maybe keep both to hedge my bets.

I know some of you do not have the resources to build lifeboats, but you can always hop a freight train to get where you need to be and start from there. (Please get on while they are stopped in the train yard, don't need you falling under the wheels. Vehicles on car carriers have paperwork telling you where it's going. Semi's have sleepers and the radio works without the keys. Just don't let them see you get on.) Back in my younger days a caboose in the middle of the train was the choice location(water, comfortable chairs up top where you could watch the scenery go by and beds), but they don't have cabooses anymore.

P.S. Also, I suggest you not get off while it's moving unless you have helmet, leather jacket and chapps. Make sure you have warm clothes if the train is heading through mountains. While in college, I spent my summers riding freight trains around the country. It's a lot of fun, even(especially) if you are not going anywhere in particular. You get to see a lot of America where there are no roads.
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell