An international food agency yesterday predicted that the price of staple food products will double by the year 2030.
The widely respected Oxfam agency said that a combination of drought, increased demand, low yield and market control will lead to prices shooting up drastically over the next few years as populations continue to grow.
It also says that the emergence of new economic powers will increase the demand by regular consumers, whose spending power is growing. Oxfam also says that the world’s supply of grain is held in the clutches of three major companies, which of course brings with it the usual cartel type behaviour that normally dominates illicit trade in weapons and drugs.
On the same day that this was made public, we heard more sad news. Even as we speak of catastrophic climate change, global warming and melting glaciers, the world has registered its highest ever levels of Carbon Dioxide emissions. Also, over the past 30 years, a massive decline has been shown in the wildlife population of the Massai Mara Reserve in Kenya. At the same time, grazing by domestic cattle has increased 1100%, even though it is illegal, as it takes valuable food away from the dwindling number of wild herbivores that in turn feed the big cats and other magnificent beasts.
But the bad news does not stop there. The International Energy Agency has said that the world’s CO2 emissions, largely believed to be the main reason behind the world’s ever increasing atmospheric temperature, have risen by 5% over levels in 2008. There was a slight dip in 2009, but the latest figures show that a shocking 30.6 gigatonnes were released into the atmosphere in 2010.
These levels, say officials, are not sustainable if the world is to limit itself to a rise of 2°C in the coming decade. The truth is that the world is being raped over and over. Our resources are dwindling and are being controlled by smaller and smaller groups of people and companies.
This is not only about oil. Oil is finite, and we need to stave off this ridiculous addiction that we have to petroleum derived products. The issue also includes food and water. What would the world come to if the West no longer had the ability to feed and hydrate itself?
As quick as you can say “Armageddon”, the world will be turned upside down as soon as it becomes clear that life as we know it will be irreversibly changed. Perhaps only then will the world wake up to the reality around us. Hopefully, it will not be too late and human resourcefulness might be able to preserve us, as a species.