{"id":9953,"date":"2011-01-13T13:07:31","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T19:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=9953"},"modified":"2011-01-13T13:07:31","modified_gmt":"2011-01-13T19:07:31","slug":"world-on-the-edge-food-bubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/world-on-the-edge-food-bubble\/","title":{"rendered":"World on the Edge: When Will the Food Bubble Burst?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>\u201cOur early 21st century civilization is in trouble. We need not go beyond the world food economy to see this. Over the last few decades we have created a food production bubble\u2014one based on environmental trends that cannot be sustained, including overpumping aquifers, overplowing land, and overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide,\u201d notes Lester R. Brown, author of World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse<\/a><\/em> (W. W. Norton & Company).<\/p>\n \u201cIf we cannot reverse these trends, economic decline is inevitable,\u201d notes Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental research organization. \u201cNo civilization has survived the ongoing destruction of its natural support systems. Nor will ours.<\/p>\n \u201cThe archeological records of earlier civilizations indicate that more often than not it was food shortages that led to their downfall. Food appears to be the weak link for our global civilization as well. And unlike the recent U.S. housing bubble, the food bubble is global.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is not whether the food bubble will burst but when,\u201d says Brown. While the U.S. housing bubble was created by the overextension of credit, the food bubble is based on the overuse of land and water resources. It is further threatened by the climate stresses deriving from the excessive burning of fossil fuels. When the U.S. housing bubble burst, it sent shockwaves through the world economy, culminating in the worst recession since the Great Depression. When the food bubble bursts, food prices will soar worldwide, threatening economic and political stability everywhere. For those living on the lower rungs of the global economic ladder, survival itself could be at stake.<\/p>\n The danger signs are everywhere. In the summer of 2010, record high temperatures scorched Moscow from late June through mid-August. Western Russia was so hot and dry in early August that 300 to 400 new fires were starting every day.<\/p>\n \u201cThe average temperature in Moscow for July was a scarcely believable 14 degrees Fahrenheit above the norm. Watching the heat wave play out over the seven-week period on the TV evening news, with the thousands of fires and smoke everywhere, was like watching a horror film. Over 56,000 people died in the extreme heat. Russia\u2019s 140 million people were in shock, traumatized by what was happening to them and their country,\u201d says Brown in World on the Edge<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n The record heat shrank Russia\u2019s grain harvest from roughly 100 million tons to 60 million tons. This 40-percent drop and the associated grain export ban helped drive world wheat prices up 60 percent in two months, raising bread prices worldwide.<\/p>\nGlobal Temperatures and the Food Bubble<\/h2>\n