Costly fuel means costly food
I watched the Calgary Flames beat the L.A. Kings with some friends at the Saddledome on Friday. Afterwards, the conversation among my fellow hockey-goers turned to peak oil and the cost of living… naturally.
When talk of the sharply rising price of food and potential mass starvation and food crises came up there were incredulous and exhausted faces. For some, the thought of global food shortages and distribution breakdowns were rejected immediately as a superstition, an impossibility. Nonetheless, it is a very real concern.
From the New York Times this weekend:
A startling change is unfolding in the world’s food markets. Soaring fuel prices have altered the equation for growing food and transporting it across the globe. Huge demand for biofuels has created tension between using land to produce fuel and using it for food.
A growing middle class in the developing world is demanding more protein, from pork and hamburgers to chicken and ice cream. And all this is happening even as global climate change may be starting to make it harder to grow food in some of the places best equipped to do so, like Australia.
This is a big big deal. And it’s going to get a lot worse. Expect to hear much more about this tremendous challenge ahead.
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