Peak Food and Peak Water
by Shepherd Bliss | May 29, 2008
Smirking Chimp
Peak Oil theorists such as Richard Heinberg, James Howard Kunstler, Matthew Simmons, and others turn out to be correct. Petroleum supplies are declining as demand increases. This unfolding trend will radically change human habitation on the Earth. Among the consequences will be the drastic reduction of food and fresh water available to people, not only in poorer parts of the globe, but throughout the planet.
Industrial societies with their industrial agriculture are dependent upon fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal for many things, including transportation, electricity, and making plastics and other modern essentials. Oil is the main ingredient in conventional food. As the supply of petroleum and other fossil fuels decline Peak Water and Peak Food will follow. In recent months we have seen the return of food riots in the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa.
In April food prices in the United States saw their biggest jump in 18 years, according to the Labor Department. Prices are up an average of 41% from last year for commodities such as corn and cotton. Fertilizer prices are up a dramatic 65% from a year ago.
"Saving Water: From Field to Fork" titles a new study reported in the article "Food Security Requires New Approach to Water" in a May 24 Inter Press Service (IPS) article. A growing scarcity of water threatens food supplies. Food production and agriculture are the largest uses of fresh water, consuming about 70% of water globally, according to the study by the Stockholm International Water Institute. In his book "Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines," Heinberg says that over 80% of fresh water goes toward agriculture in the United States.
Scarce supplies of water, according to the IPS article, "will be a key constraint to food production." If there is no change in current practices in food production and consumption, according to a contributor to the Stockholm report, "it is likely that twice as much water as that used today would be required by 2015 to produce the world's required food." But that amount of water would not be available, indicating the possibility of widespread food fights and even famine.
(Continued here.)
Smirking Chimp
Peak Oil theorists such as Richard Heinberg, James Howard Kunstler, Matthew Simmons, and others turn out to be correct. Petroleum supplies are declining as demand increases. This unfolding trend will radically change human habitation on the Earth. Among the consequences will be the drastic reduction of food and fresh water available to people, not only in poorer parts of the globe, but throughout the planet.
Industrial societies with their industrial agriculture are dependent upon fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal for many things, including transportation, electricity, and making plastics and other modern essentials. Oil is the main ingredient in conventional food. As the supply of petroleum and other fossil fuels decline Peak Water and Peak Food will follow. In recent months we have seen the return of food riots in the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa.
In April food prices in the United States saw their biggest jump in 18 years, according to the Labor Department. Prices are up an average of 41% from last year for commodities such as corn and cotton. Fertilizer prices are up a dramatic 65% from a year ago.
"Saving Water: From Field to Fork" titles a new study reported in the article "Food Security Requires New Approach to Water" in a May 24 Inter Press Service (IPS) article. A growing scarcity of water threatens food supplies. Food production and agriculture are the largest uses of fresh water, consuming about 70% of water globally, according to the study by the Stockholm International Water Institute. In his book "Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines," Heinberg says that over 80% of fresh water goes toward agriculture in the United States.
Scarce supplies of water, according to the IPS article, "will be a key constraint to food production." If there is no change in current practices in food production and consumption, according to a contributor to the Stockholm report, "it is likely that twice as much water as that used today would be required by 2015 to produce the world's required food." But that amount of water would not be available, indicating the possibility of widespread food fights and even famine.
(Continued here.)
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