World Famine

[ber]

What you say is unquestionably true, but my point is before that happens there will be a breakthrough somewhere else, so we will not need oil.

Nuclear fission is one example - we seem to be tantalisingly close to a steady source of cheap power.

Yes i would agree with that i feel we should already have gone the nuclear road, but the fact is oil is so vital for so many
more things other than energy, i agree that we will try solve the problems on an ongoing basis but i do feel at some stage
we will reach a crossroads and if the world survives it will be an unrecognisable place from what it is today
I think we will reach a stage that the problems will come more quickly than we can solve them

[ber]

Yep, it is just a matter of time. The problem is not however that we will run out of oil or phosphate or anything else. The problem, in my view, is that we in the first world consume the vast majority of the worlds resources while about 80% of the planet's population do not consume a fraction of the world's resources.

As long as we in the first world continue to consume at the rate that we do then it is only a matter of time before the planet is screwed.

However, there is a chance if we decide to change our habits that we will be able to delay the inevitable.

Again i agree with u , but man will never change he will always be ruled by greed,while we always have people championing
the future the bulk of people just are intrested in what will be there for the time that they are on earth so they will continue
to pillage and ravage resources with no thought to the future. How many people on earth today are worried about 500 yrs time
most are just worried about having enough to eat tomorrow and paying the mortage next week

[anitasizzle]

Yes i deff agree with u Anita it really is a case of when not if this will happen there are too many factors pointing towards this happening, just because it may not happen in our lifetime dosent mean its not imminent

It might happen in our lifetime; look what happened to Russia this past year, they ran out of wheat, Putin had to stop all exports of wheat out of Russia; iwhat if several other countries had of experienced the same thing at the same time?

[Cooldude]

ber oil is renewal resource it has been proven by the russias oil is made in deep mantle by hot pressure of the earth how much oil was really spilled in the gulf of mexico hundreds millions of gallons.

[ber]

It might happen in our lifetime; look what happened to Russia this past year, they ran out of wheat, Putin had to stop all exports of wheat out of Russia; iwhat if several other countries had of experienced the same thing at the same time?

Well this is my point about the phosphate it would half the worlds grain output if/when it runs out can u imagine when a few countries would refuse to trade in grain the whole worldwide trade system would collapse with immediate famine in poor third
world countries and the contagin spreading across the world with inevitable military conflict

[ber]

ber oil is renewal resource it has been proven by the russias oil is made in deep mantle by hot pressure of the earth how much oil was really spilled in the gulf of mexico hundreds millions of gallons.

Yes it is a renewable energy that we have made a massive inroad into amount of it that we can access in a couple of hundred years. Oil that was millions of years forming. It will never replenish at the rate we are using it. To be honest we are only really
using it with the past 50 yrs in an expansive way and look where we are already

[herodotus]

But is part of the problem not that many communities in the third world are forced to raise cash crops in order to pay their debts to the first world. This is of course nothing new as it was the cause of the Irish famine. There was plenty of food the problem was that it was all being exported.

Well this is my point about the phosphate it would half the worlds grain output if/when it runs out can u imagine when a few countries would refuse to trade in grain the whole worldwide trade system would collapse with immediate famine in poor third
world countries and the contagin spreading across the world with inevitable military conflict

[John Shaft]

The World Famine is already with us. Right now about 1 in 6 of the world's population is malnourished and this has been the case for several decades. People are dying from hunger related illnesses every day in Africa and elsewhere. Another few hundred million are in dire poverty and barely surviving. We are not going to be hit by a global famine all of a shot. The cumulative effects of rising oil, food and fertiliser prices, climate change, desertification, rising sea levels etc. will slowly but surely bring more people into a situation where they face malnourishment, disease and starvation over the coming decades. Meanwhile a very small percentage of super-rich will hoover up dwindling resources.

Ber this is a topic which should concern everyone, but unfortunately internet discussion boards aren't the best place to be raising these issues.

[John Shaft]

In one sense, oil, coal, gas and peat are renewable, but we don't have the luxury of waiting around for a few hundred millennia for supplies to be replenished.

[herodotus]

I am not sure why this topic should not be raised on an inernet discussion board...

And, somewhere in the world there has always been a famine for one reason or another.

Many of the major wars fought over the years have been fought for econmic/ trade reasons. From teh Trojan war which resulted from a lack of Grain in Greece to the invasion of Iraq which was fought over Oil.

How much money does the west make from the sale of weapons to countries in the thrid world? A lot is the answer. And where to they get the money? They get it from average people struggling to survive.

You only have to look at the budget here. The goverment gives 40 mil to bankers while taking money away from carers. This is relevant to the current discussion because I woudl content that there is more enough food in the world to feed all teh people in the world. It is the manner in which the resources are divided that is the problem. Just as out government chose bankjers over carers. The wider world allows the continued transfer of wealth form the thrid world to the first world and one mresult of this transfer of wealth is continued famines around the world.

But you do not need to go too far to see people starving. Just look at the two kids rooting through bins this morning. You could argue that this means that there is not enought food in Ireland but of course that is not the case. It is the way the resources are divided. On the micro level it manifests itself in parents spending money on drink, drugs or debt repayment instead of food for ther children.

Thanks for straring the discussion Ber. It is always good to have issues like this raised.

The World Famine is already with us. Right now about 1 in 6 of the world's population is malnourished and this has been the case for several decades. People are dying from hunger related illnesses every day in Africa and elsewhere. Another few hundred million are in dire poverty and barely surviving. We are not going to be hit by a global famine all of a shot. The cumulative effects of rising oil, food and fertiliser prices, climate change, desertification, rising sea levels etc. will slowly but surely bring more people into a situation where they face malnourishment, disease and starvation over the coming decades. Meanwhile a very small percentage of super-rich will hoover up dwindling resources.

Ber this is a topic which should concern everyone, but unfortunately internet discussion boards aren't the best place to be raising these issues.