The price of food is continuing to soar. I heard this story on NPR this morning confirming that the situation is getting worse. In the interview, representatives from international food aid organizations are reporting that they cannot obtain enough food. The prices are too high to purchase the quantity of food they need to provide aid to poor nations.
As I mentioned in a previous post, rising energy costs and the increase in biofuels are two of the biggest causes of the rise in food prices. It hurts those living in poor nations the most. A resident of a developing nation may spend 60-70% of their income on food. In America, we spend less than 10% of our disposable income on food. As unsettled as the world is, we are adding another source of conflict.
When he visited Lasell College a few months ago, Lester Brown made a comment that has stuck with me. He said bourbon is the only thing we should be refining grains into. World Hunger reports that enough food is produced to feed the world and states that the principle problem is that many people do not have sufficient land or income to obtain enough food. As more calories go into making our automobiles move, the number of people facing this problem is going to increase. Recently, John Ziegler from the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food called the use of crops for biofuel a "crime against humanity"
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