So.
It is May 1st.
The saying is April showers bring May flowers. Really? Do not flowers need sunshine?
Because there is no sign of that today. Grumble grumble grumble.
My letter to the editor was published. That felt good.
Still thinking about food production. I heard yesterday that 20% of the food shortage can be attributed to the fact that we are producing biofuels. Crops are being grown to produce fuel for our vehicles. I don't know much about this topic. I will have to do some reading up on it.
We hear of some shops limiting the amount of rice you can purchase. We hear of people of arriving at the check out with bags of rice - stocking up as you will. Is the media escalating the problem by continually reporting about the food shortage?
And how can we possibly talk about a food shortage here in North America when we look and see how the majority of the world struggles. I understand the impact of the food shortage is felt in some ways here but TRULY - most north americans have no idea what it is like to be STARVING.
I am not saying that we don't have people who struggle and go hungry; there are homeless and street people here in our cities but if look globally we are still the richest people on the planet. I think it is important we do not lose sight of this fact.
2 comments:
I'm currently listening to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I'm finding the idea of a corn shortage unbelievable in light of how he talks about corn production (ie, a problem of figuring out what to do with the mountains of excess corn). Perhaps things have changed since that was written, but the whole situation sounds fishy to me. And I agree that the media reporting on food shortages is probably escalating the problem. But why is there a rice shortage if it's corn that's being used as a biofuel...?
yes, biofuels are a really insidious wasted of arable land. I am completely against it.
and hoarding. my mom works at a major grocery store chain and she tells me that in the past week the shelves have been empty of rice and flour.
this too strikes me as wrong.
intuitively.
I was briefly tempted when I heard about the escalating prices, to go and 'hoard' a bunch of flour and rice, but ultimately decided not to.
if a bag of flour goes from $7 to $11, I will pay the difference and suck it up, and complain mightily about land being used to fuel cars instead of feeding people.
it's ludicrous!
~sigh~ I feel old.
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