Monday, August 03, 2009

LIVE LOCALLY, EAT GLOBALLY

It's an oft repeated factiod that a billion people go to bed hungry every night. Yet, there is no appreciable effort to control world population growth.

But significant efforts are underway by the rich, to seize croplands in poor countries.

biafra child 1

It's a variant on a familiar saying:

I stole a man's fish, he was hungry for one day.  I stole the man's fishing pole, he starved to death.

The Guardian UK piece, Fears for the world's poor countries as the rich grab land to grow food, gives the details of a trend which according to UN officials "could severely impair the ability of poor countries to feed themselves."

Apparently huge amounts of land are involved.

According to one official:

...about one-fifth of the land deals were expected to grow biofuel crops. "But it is impossible to know with certainty because declarations are not made as to what crops will be grown," he said.

Some of the world's largest food, financial and car companies have invested in land.

The car company/biofuel part boils down to: They starve so our cars can eat.

Yikes!

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