Food Crisis: Would The Vested Interest Starve The World?

An interesting opinion piece about the consolidation of the global food supply and the likely coming 'bottleneck' of factors that could cause mass starvation around the developing world.

In his latest book entitled Bottleneck sociologist and ecologist William Catton Jr. explains in detail why he believes human society is destined for a major dieoff, a "bottleneck" from which few survivors will emerge.

One cause, he says, is an array of vested interests who manipulate the media and the power structure, oblivious to the consequences of their actions. Many would say that this is business-as-usual. After all, what do we expect when governments are thoroughly dominated by the industries they are supposed to regulate? As a result, we may say, a few more people will be maimed or killed or maybe just ripped off than would otherwise be the case. But, would such interests be so crazy as to persist in their manipulations when faced with compelling evidence that suggests their actions could result in widespread starvation?
A more recent revelation is that glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide, may be setting us up for a major crop failure worldwide. Sold primarily under the trade name Roundup, the herbicide has been central to chemical and seed giant Monsanto's strategy to lock-in alfalfa, corn, cotton, canola, soybean, and sugar beet growers who must buy the company's genetically engineered and patent-protected seeds every year from Monsanto if they want to reseed their fields with herbicide-proof crops.

Now a leaked private letter from an agricultural researcher to the secretary of agriculture seeking funds to research possible connections between the herbicide and increased levels of plant and animal disease has called into question the safety of this herbicide. Apparently, glyphosate promotes what is now being called Sudden Death Syndrome in plants by making them more susceptible to soil-borne diseases.

www.econmatters.com...

Why Is Damning New Evidence About Monsanto's Most Widely Used Herbicide Being Silenced?

www.alternet.org...

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


Minds

The Bottleneck. This is a clear mental image of the process in which we are engaged.
Here are a couple of places that I have mentioned it here on ATS
bottleneck
bottleneck

Good find Minds. This book may well be worth reading.

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds
An interesting opinion piece about the consolidation of the global food supply and the likely coming 'bottleneck' of factors that could cause mass starvation around the developing world.

One cause, he says, is an array of vested interests who manipulate the media and the power structure, oblivious to the consequences of their actions.

This I believe is the major worry, the lack of knowledge, or even concern, within the research and product development sector of the long term effects of some of these products. The tests that they conduct on the safety of the products are often short term and do not take into account possible effects on the metabolites in new growth. And it is becoming increasingly clear that plant life does metabolise toxins and that those toxins have an effect on subsequent generations. Unfortunately this is combined with an increasing belief amongst the 'general public' that science will save us. Science though doesn't even know that there is a problem, it is far too specialised to be looking at the bigger picture, and is more likely, if left to run unchecked to hasten our demise. No one has actually studied the long term effects on any of these chemicals, the companies that produce them are not required by law to do so, currently, and therefore there is no reason for them to spend money doing so. We, in all seriousness, do not really know how many of these herbicides work, we just accept that they do, and usually, they are applied in combinations. It is only when there is a problem, other than safe human handling procedures, that the processes are examined more closely.

Originally posted by KilgoreTrout
Science though doesn't even know that there is a problem, it is far too specialised to be looking at the bigger picture, and is more likely, if left to run unchecked to hasten our demise.]

I, too, suspect that is the problem. I have had some wonderful conversations with people involved in the GMO industry, and they truly believe they are saving the world. They know SO MUCH about one small subset of information, and yet know so very little about the rest of the world. They are like horses with blinders, guided in one direction, oblivious to their surroundings. Being able to convince them of the errors of their ways is vital, and yet not likley without a massive shift in consciousness.

Here is the the thing, there is no scarsity, only abundance even with disasters. There are greenhouses, terrafarming, desalination, seed kits, rooting plants, and tons of solutions for alternative energies. The sky is the limit if its all free and all who can pitch in do, and volunteer. its the vested interests that are the problem running all of this by intent.

Its time to overcome them and establish abundance and prosperity for all peoples, without forcing, quick and easy relocation for anyone in danger or disaster, no borders, sharing and eco farms and abundance. Alternative powers, unusual food productions, ranging from underground to rooftop greenhouses, and hillside terraces, there are no limits, only lack of will.

The will to ensure complete abundance, high tech, clean energy, high culture and happiness, and unalieable rights for every citizen of this planet including full access to resources and land, without forcing anyone to be slaves, must come now. Enough is enough.

There are children in need, every second dying, and people being operated on without anesthesia, if they're lucky at all.

Enough is enough. There are no natural limits, except for bullies and thugs enforcing them.

Green Home Source visits Earthship Biotecture Community

These houses take no heat or cooling and recylce water. They are large, spacious, beautiful, built with recycled materials, and include huge indoor greenhouses. This is just the start, not the end of what can be done. Obviously, solar, wind is just a bit, then there is geomagnetic poles that create earth spin, ie, overunity, there is tide, wave, geothermal. Hydrogen fuel. Japan put these little mods on bikes, so they ran on water. Trucks running on this have high speeds and can haul a load, workhorse technology. So think furnaces, heaters if needed, barbecues, fridges, anything can be run on water.

And recycling water doesnt mean you cant have wells, it means you don't waste it and send it back in the ground.

Africa, phillipines, India, Indonesia, North Korea, China, South America, Madagascar, Europe, North America, you name it, there is nothing but abundance.

Even without their consent it only takes community getting together. 5 can become 20. 20 can become 100. 100 can become 1000. We can change the world, from the bottom up, pooling resources and finding tons of solutions. Donated land, clean businesses, sharing, sharing gardens, energy devices, encouraging professionals, dentists, teachers, mechanics, electricians, so forth and so on, and promoting, importing it, and matching up with oversees, and pooling up for dontations of land, same thing, for everyone. Here and There.

I''m not talking hubbles and scarsity sharing. We need abundance, and that means sidestepping all the limits they impose and ridding the world of them by working as a majority without them, until they have no customers, and no power base.

reply to post by Unity_99


Indeed. The solutions are localized and long-term oriented.

Nonetheless, most of these forms of technology are only appreciated by those of us in the 'developed' world. The article is discussing how the entire system has made much of the developing world a sort of foo desert.

The solutions you describe are applicable anywhere and everywhere, but without direct influence in those regions, these solutions likely wont appear in time to save much of the 'third' world.

Originally posted by Unity_99
Even without their consent it only takes community getting together. 5 can become 20. 20 can become 100. 100 can become 1000. We can change the world, from the bottom up, pooling resources and finding tons of solutions. Donated land, clean businesses, sharing, sharing gardens, energy devices, encouraging professionals, dentists, teachers, mechanics, electricians, so forth and so on, and promoting, importing it, and matching up with oversees, and pooling up for dontations of land, same thing, for everyone. Here and There.

I''m not talking hubbles and scarsity sharing. We need abundance, and that means sidestepping all the limits they impose and ridding the world of them by working as a majority without them, until they have no customers, and no power base.

Perfectly brilliant points. Hugely true.

What we have to do is by-pass, at every level, the middle-men. They serve no purpose other than their own. We can take responsibility for ourselves and the direction of industry by realising our power through co-operatives and purchasing groups. It is a massive ideological change though, and it is very hard for some not to fall into the indoctrinated belief that co-operative socialism is the antithesis to nationalism, patriotism or individual sovereignty (I doubt I've spelled that correctly ), they can, quite easily, co-exist.

Originally posted by KilgoreTrout
. We can take responsibility for ourselves and the direction of industry by realising our power through co-operatives and purchasing groups. It is a massive ideological change though, and it is very hard for some not to fall into the indoctrinated belief that co-operative socialism is the antithesis to nationalism, patriotism or individual sovereignty (I doubt I've spelled that correctly

), they can, quite easily, co-exist.

Indeed. The modern American lifestyle has deconstructed the family and the community to profit off of the ensuing commodification of all the things we used to once gain from extended family/community.

The notion that a strong community is akin to Russian "Communism" is absurd. The 'nuclear family' is inefficient. Pre WW2 america had a rich extended family and community life, brought from the old countries, born from necessity.

The only way forward is mutual co operation.

Bottleneck? Not a pretty imagine. It makes me think of hearing in biology class how humanity had less than 2k breeding pairs down in Africa at the last bottleneck some 70k years ago.

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds
The only way forward is mutual co operation.

On the local and global level. There is absolutely no excuse for children, or anyone else for that matter, to be dying from starvation. Not when there is so much waste of food and logistical resources in other countries. There is more than enough to go around, it is just that some people take far more than their fair share, out of greed, and fear, hordeing is as detrimental as greed to the group as a whole. Demand more, want more. The needs of ALL should be addressed way before any one person, or group of people's wants are even raised into the equation. That goes for everything. And if we don't make these adaptations for ourselves, government and global jurisdictions will make them for us. Right now we have a choice, those choices are narrowing, and given global populations, if we don't do something about changing our ways now, we will be faced with enormous refugee and transient populations, boat loads of starving people bringing the problem to our shores. Producing and sourcing as much of our own food locally as possible, settling back into seasonal dietary habits, isn't a huge hardship, and reducing our reliance on chemicals to get good crops, and treat pests, has to stop, at least until we know what the long term effects are. We can see with our own eyes that there is a problem somewhere in the food chain. The only sensible cause of action is to stop what we are doing and find ways of more efficiently using to knowledge we have to work in symbience with nature instead of in opposition to it.

Originally posted by KilgoreTrout

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds
The only way forward is mutual co operation.

On the local and global level. There is absolutely no excuse for children, or anyone else for that matter, to be dying from starvation. Not when there is so much waste of food and logistical resources in other countries. There is more than enough to go around, it is just that some people take far more than their fair share, out of greed, and fear, hordeing is as detrimental as greed to the group as a whole.

While I agree with everything you are saying, I think it really only applies to ats of the world, namely many of the more affluent western nations (but not limited to).

The food crises referred to in the article refer specifically to very impoverished areas in India and Africa, specifically, where all of these basic levels of support have been completely decimated in the wake of hundreds of years of colonialism, civil war, refugee camps, etc etc etc

I agree that we can all move towards more self sufficience in terms of food production and consumption, but the point being discussed here isn't N. Americas food security as much as it is the parts of asia and africa who essentially depend on aid because of soci political situations out of their hands.

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds
While I agree with everything you are saying, I think it really only applies to ats of the world, namely many of the more affluent western nations (but not limited to).

The food crises referred to in the article refer specifically to very impoverished areas in India and Africa, specifically, where all of these basic levels of support have been completely decimated in the wake of hundreds of years of colonialism, civil war, refugee camps, etc etc etc

I agree that we can all move towards more self sufficience in terms of food production and consumption, but the point being discussed here isn't N. Americas food security as much as it is the parts of asia and africa who essentially depend on aid because of soci political situations out of their hands.

I agree, absolutely, but the point is though to set an example. How can we tell other people how they should be doing it if we ourselves are reliant on food imports? Because we have the money to pay through the nose, but they don't? Many of those countries which are currently suffering are incredibly resource rich, and yet, because of corrupt governments, they are hog tied by embargoes that forbid them from trading those resources. Who sanctioned those governments? Who sold them their weapons? Those embargoes ensure that the 'legitimate' traders can fix prices as high as they want to, because of false or 'imagined' scarcity. We, in the West, the governments that we have supported, the coups we have facilitated, have created through colonialism, through exploitational trade practices, have created this situation, or at the very least enabled it, so it should be we that are the most proactive in allieviating it. And, if we really care about changing the situation instead of just sticking an elastoplast on it, we should set an example, and through doing so, vote with our pockets to effect that change. We, the people, need to show our solidarity, and not just think it is THEM that has to change, we all have to. Carry on as we are and the food shortages will get worse, this isn't about self-sufficiency, it is about using our collective power to change the way resources are used and distributed. It is a complete waste of resources to have food shipped or worse, flown half way around the world, but as long as people demand foods, exotic and out of season, those resources will continue to be wasted. And, it is those growers in Asia etc, that are driven to produce crops for our consumption who are getting the most screwed over, so yes, it is entirely, in my opinion, a matter of us changing, as the dominant cultures, and leaders of the 'free world' we should set an example.