Paging Dr. Malthus

There isn't really a shortage of food in the world. The corn going into one ethanol fillup for an SUV could feed a person for a year. What there is is a shortage of food that poor people can actually afford. That shortage is in part a consequence of well-intentioned follies like the ethanol biofuel program, but it's also reflects the growing appetites of newly prosperous Chinese, Indians and others.

The world's food supply is such that meat for the well off translates into hunger or starvation for the poor. The current malthusian crisis would have happened sooner or later even if we all gave up ethanol and meat, and the only long term solution is fewer mouths to feed.

The high price of food, oil, and other resources is a signal that we are approaching the limits of the Planets capacity to support us. There will probably be future times of less serious want, but more serious want is inevitable unless the world moves aggressively to limit population.

I won't try to predict whether these shortages will produce global wars or just localized starvation, but either seems bad enough to warrant action.

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