Plan B - Lester Brown on saving civilization

25 Nov 2009

I went to a talk last week by Lester Brown, which was so on point and inspiring that I felt like I needed to share it with you. It is amazing to hear someone speak who can so cogently make sense of different ideas and bring them together.

For those of you who don’t know, Lester Brown is one of the leading voices on global climate change in the US. He has a background in agriculture and a long history of advocacy and activism, and he now heads the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. This talk was part of a tour promoting his newest book, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. It is available online as a .pdf, or get it from your local bookstore.

Mr. Brown began the talk by suggesting that the upcoming climate change conference ought to be called the Copenhagen Conference on Food Security. We know that many (most?) early civilizations deteriorated and disappeared due to the failure of their food supplies. The Sumerians, the Maya, … Likewise, we have been unable to reverse the trends that have led to the global food crisis. Historically, the demand for food increased for one reason only: population growth. But today, in addition to tremendous population growth, people are eating higher and higher up the food chain, eating animals that require far more grain to produce than if we were simply eating the grain ourselves. Today, approximately 3 million people are trying to move up the food chain. In addition to these two factors, the huge demand for grain for fuel (ethanol/biodiesel) has added a third pressure to our global supply of food, to the point where world food prices have been growing out of control, and it has taken the meltdown of our economies to bring grain prices, not back to normal, but at least down to manageable levels.

A second issue is water. We drink, on average, 4 liters of water per day. Our food, on the other hand, requires 2,000 liters of water per day. Per day! Underground water levels are falling around the world, but notably in the world’s top three grain producers (China, India, USA) — which house half the world’s population. 15% of India’s population is fed by grain that is produced through the overpumping of aquifers, that is to say, unsustainably. In Saudi Arabia, which has long produced it’s own wheat irrigated from a non-replenishing aquifer, the government has just announced that they will be cutting the grain harvest by 1/8th each year, until in 2016 they will be importing all of their food. In countries with water shortages, as urban populations grow water is diverted to cities, and grain is imported to make up for falling harvests. The global grain market is, in essence, a global water market.
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A Vaccine for Pandemic Panic

17 Nov 2009

Heather over at New Society Publishers has this to say about the new Swine Flu vaccine.

This week marks the beginning of the swine flue vaccine availability for the general public in our neck of the woods. Maybe you’re planning on rolling up your sleeve and getting in line for the jab in the hopes of protecting yourself and loved ones from illness. Or maybe you’ll be sitting this one out because either you’re concerned about taking part in the largest experimental inoculation campaign in recorded history, or perhaps you’re somewhat cynical about the extent to which this campaign is lining the deep pockets of the pharmaceutical industry.
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What we really need is a vaccine to protect us from the media tendency to sensationalize and exacerbate public panic by playing on deeply held personal fears. Fortunately, we have such a thing. It’s called common sense, and we all ought to take a healthy dose.

A Vaccine for Pandemic Panic | November 17, 2009

And while you’re contemplating that, perhaps you can ponder why it is that we can so easily get swine flu vaccines out to everyone and their neighbor, no matter what the cost or effectiveness, but we can’t seem to get proven, life-saving HIV meds to the people who need them.

Blogging for Change.org

22 Oct 2009

I’m applying to blog at change.org, and as part of the process I’ve been asked to submit three sample posts for their upcoming Global Poverty section.

I’ve posted them here (they’re the last three posts), so they don’t go to waste. Let me know what you think.