Food sustainability requires systemic thinking and action

[Trakar]

Food sustainability requires systemic thinking and action

Today's global security challenges such as food, water and energy are inextricably linked

We need to find ways to change whole systems in order to live more sustainably

I don't know about you, but the closest I ever got to a Rubik's Cube, shortly after it was first launched in 1974, was to handle one in a toy store. For me, it seemed insoluble – and many assumed it was, until persistent cubers discovered not just one way to crack the puzzle, but many. And the cube came to mind as I thought recently about the astonishingly complex global security challenge we now face.


Back in the seventies we were challenged by a series of energy (or at least oil) crises, but now we see the energy security issue linking ever more tightly to food security, water security, climate security and so on. Indeed, when I sat down with Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington DC recently, he argued that the biggest mistake the founders of the sustainability movement made was framing the agenda as one for future generations. That was true enough then, he suggested, but today we are living through the early stages of the potential system crash the Brundtland Commission warned us about.


And all of this came to mind as I trawled through Appetite for Change, a new report from SustainAbility, backed by Nestlé, IBM and Sodexo. Apart from suggesting the title some time back, I was not part of the project team, so came to the analysis as an outsider. But the conclusions generally resonated powerfully with Lester Brown's – and indeed my own – in terms of the growing need for system change.


By way of an aperitif, SustainAbility notes that "in just the past couple of weeks, one of the worst E coli outbreaks in history has killed 37 people and made more than 2,600 ill, academics concluded that climate change will have more negative consequences for agriculture than expected, and the UN's Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation released a guide warning world farming needs a major shift to more sustainable practices as intensive crop production since the 1960s has degraded soils, depleted ground water and caused pest outbreaks."


Industry and food system experts interviewed for the report conclude that the food industry is failing to address the true scale of the problem, warning that there is "a startling lack of consensus on the path forward." The sector may be at an inflection point, but it isn't at all clear that it knows what to do next.


One thing I found surprising is just how unprofitable much of the food industry can be. Sector executives often settle for lower margins than those in other sectors, while most producers "literally find farming a ticket to poverty – half of the world's malnourished are themselves farmers."(...)

People on the fringe of survival will do what they can to survive, this doesn't necessarily mean that they have the knowledge and mean to efficiently produce food. This is compounded by the erratic nature of climate forced into rapid and accelerating change. This goes far beyond the subsistence farmers in our own nation, who will at the least have the option of social safety net programs to help them survive.

 

[ScienceRocks]

I would turn all food aid into birth control and sterilization for the third world. No use in producing 7-9 children a piece that's going to starve to death. Allowing such to occur is evil.

What the west has done the past 50 years has been an evil mistake. You don't get people relying on you; instead, what should have been done is getting people capable of living off their own work. Books about farming, educational supplies and birth control would have gone a long ways towards lifting the third world up to our standards.

The massive die out is coming and they're not capable of doing anything about it. If global warming is as bad as you people say its coming.

 

[Trakar]

I would turn all food aid into birth control and sterilization for the third world. No use in producing 7-9 children a piece that's going to starve to death. Allowing such to occur is evil.

What the west has done the past 50 years has been an evil mistake. You don't get people relying on you, instead, what should of been done is getting people capable of living off their own work. Books about farming, educational supplies and birth control would of went a long ways towards lifting the third world up to our standards.

The massive die out is coming and they're not capable of doing anything about it. If global warming is as bad as you people say it's coming.

How are you going to sell this to the religious and social conservatives of both parties?

 

[ScienceRocks]

I would turn all food aid into birth control and sterilization for the third world. No use in producing 7-9 children a piece that's going to starve to death. Allowing such to occur is evil.

What the west has done the past 50 years has been an evil mistake. You don't get people relying on you, instead, what should of been done is getting people capable of living off their own work. Books about farming, educational supplies and birth control would of went a long ways towards lifting the third world up to our standards.

The massive die out is coming and they're not capable of doing anything about it. If global warming is as bad as you people say it's coming.

How are you going to sell this to the religious and social conservatives of both parties?

UN would take the birth control and give it to the governments of Africa.

 

[skookerasbil]

I love the dopes who rant about anti-intellectualism. The same people who have zero ability to think on the margin. To them, every problem is solvable......all we have to do is have the collective will to confont it = problem solved. And THAT is suppossed to be intellectual? These dolts are legends in their own minds........the uptopian shitforbrains that suppose there are endless resources to solve any problem. To the "intellectuals", there are no necessary tradeoffs to weigh. Idiots like Trakar never stop to answer the questions: 1) At what cost?.... and...... 2) As compared to what?. Accordingly, they live in a world of fantasy and think THEY'RE the smartest people in the world. Mental cases like Trakar look at throwing 1/2 a billion dollars at Solyndra which turns around and fails and says, "Meh.....the intentions were good"


Watching the genius of liberal ideas crash and burn is the only incentive I ever need to keep showing up in forums like this. Just the thought of them thinking of dreaming for a single second that the world is suddenly going to come together to spend 76 trillion on making the world green is beyond gone. You wonder where the brilliant bumper sticker "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder" comes from? Follow the genius of the posts by Trakar!!!

 

[konradv]

I would turn all food aid into birth control and sterilization for the third world. No use in producing 7-9 children a piece that's going to starve to death. Allowing such to occur is evil.

What the west has done the past 50 years has been an evil mistake. You don't get people relying on you; instead, what should have been done is getting people capable of living off their own work. Books about farming, educational supplies and birth control would have gone a long ways towards lifting the third world up to our standards.

The massive die out is coming and they're not capable of doing anything about it. If global warming is as bad as you people say its coming.

Is it dependence we're seeing or a result of the Green Revolution? More food leads to more mouths, so Malthus is proved right again.

Green Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Old Rocks]

Those that think that food in the oncoming crisis will only be a problem in the third world nations need to look at the faces from the Dust Bowl period. It has happened here before, and can happen here again.

Those responsible for the military security of this nation are taking an increased interest in how the increasing heat, and resultant climate change, will play out. Their models do not make for pleasant reading.

 

[skookerasbil]

Those that think that food in the oncoming crisis will only be a problem in the third world nations need to look at the faces from the Dust Bowl period. It has happened here before, and can happen here again.

Those responsible for the military security of this nation are taking an increased interest in how the increasing heat, and resultant climate change, will play out. Their models do not make for pleasant reading.

So the ? is Ray........what are we to do? As an administrator, I hear my staff always coming up with problems that have to be solved, but few offer solutions. So........whats the fix, and please make it at least somewhat reasonable. Since converting the world to green energy is 100% out of the question, kinda curious as to the solutions here.........

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Clearly AGW is the new home of Eugenicists.

Cult of AGW. Eugenicists Welcome!!

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Those that think that food in the oncoming crisis will only be a problem in the third world nations need to look at the faces from the Dust Bowl period. It has happened here before, and can happen here again.

Those responsible for the military security of this nation are taking an increased interest in how the increasing heat, and resultant climate change, will play out. Their models do not make for pleasant reading.

Fascism is never pleasant even when it waves a green Gaia first! flag

 

[Oddball]

I would turn all food aid into birth control and sterilization for the third world. No use in producing 7-9 children a piece that's going to starve to death. Allowing such to occur is evil.

What the west has done the past 50 years has been an evil mistake. You don't get people relying on you; instead, what should have been done is getting people capable of living off their own work. Books about farming, educational supplies and birth control would have gone a long ways towards lifting the third world up to our standards.

The massive die out is coming and they're not capable of doing anything about it. If global warming is as bad as you people say its coming.

Is it dependence we're seeing or a result of the Green Revolution? More food leads to more mouths, so Malthus is proved right again.

Green Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Finally, one of the AGW cultists 'fesses up to being a Malthusian declinist.

'Bout time.

 

[konradv]

I would turn all food aid into birth control and sterilization for the third world. No use in producing 7-9 children a piece that's going to starve to death. Allowing such to occur is evil.

What the west has done the past 50 years has been an evil mistake. You don't get people relying on you; instead, what should have been done is getting people capable of living off their own work. Books about farming, educational supplies and birth control would have gone a long ways towards lifting the third world up to our standards.

The massive die out is coming and they're not capable of doing anything about it. If global warming is as bad as you people say its coming.

Is it dependence we're seeing or a result of the Green Revolution? More food leads to more mouths, so Malthus is proved right again.

Green Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Finally, one of the AGW cultists 'fesses up to being a Malthusian declinist.

'Bout time.

LOL!!! Got a bot that sniffs out the word 'Malthus'? I was wondering how long it would take for the mere mention of the name to bring the loons out of the woodwork!

 

[Si modo]

We're all gonna die!










No, really. We are.

 

[Oddball]

Malthus was wrong then and he's wrong today.

He and the other assorted freaks on a leash infesting the eugenics and AGW cults, will always eventually smoke themselves out for the misanthropes that they are.

Way ta go.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Only the State can provide for its people!

Look at North Korea! Cuba!

 

[Trakar]

...Watching the genius of liberal ideas crash and burn is the only incentive I ever need to keep showing up in forums like this. Just the thought of them thinking of dreaming for a single second that the world is suddenly going to come together to spend 76 trillion on making the world green is beyond gone. You wonder where the brilliant bumper sticker "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder" comes from? Follow the genius of the posts by Trakar!!!

Care to demonstrate any utopian ideas or plans I've advocated in this thread so far?! The only thing I've presented so far is a presentation of an observed problem and asked an individual who presented what I consider an ilconsidered option for dealing with that problem how he was planning on implementing his solution.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Problem: (Fill in the blank)

Solution: Mo n' Bigga Government!

 

[Trakar]

I would turn all food aid into birth control and sterilization for the third world. No use in producing 7-9 children a piece that's going to starve to death. Allowing such to occur is evil.

What the west has done the past 50 years has been an evil mistake. You don't get people relying on you, instead, what should of been done is getting people capable of living off their own work. Books about farming, educational supplies and birth control would of went a long ways towards lifting the third world up to our standards.

The massive die out is coming and they're not capable of doing anything about it. If global warming is as bad as you people say it's coming.

How are you going to sell this to the religious and social conservatives of both parties?

UN would take the birth control and give it to the governments of Africa.

While I think that introducing and supporting population control issues is a good idea, I don't see it being any more persuasive in the future than it has been in the past. More especially, I don't see the religious or social conservatives of either party supporting this course of action (and both parties seem to be dominated or strongly dependent upon both of these groups). Beyond issues of birth control, allowing tens of millions of people to starve to death hardly seems a viable option from the outset of consideration. Presumably there is a lot of TIC going on with your responses, but is that the extent of you considerations of the problem the OP outlined?

 

[Trakar]

Clearly AGW is the new home of Eugenicists.

Cult of AGW. Eugenicists Welcome!!

I can only presume that Matthew was being facetious in his remarks, but I'll let him respond to your assertions of his membership in the "Cult of AGW."

 

[konradv]

Malthus was wrong then and he's wrong today.

He and the other assorted freaks on a leash infesting the eugenics and AGW cults, will always eventually smoke themselves out for the misanthropes that they are.

It's not misanthropic, if it's an attempt at a solution to a problem that we've seen repeatedly. Booms and busts in the stock market are one thing, but the same in the human population means millions of deaths.