[Pil-pc-oceania] 50 million farmers: big picture future of food

[Fiona Campbell]

FWD ...article from Robin Williamson:

FIFTY MILLION FARMERS
by Richard Heinberg
Published on 17 November 2006 by Energy Bulletin

This is the abbreviated text of a lecture by Richard Heinberg delivered to
the E F Schumacher Society [US] in October 2006:

"There was a time not long ago when famine was an expected, if not accepted,
part of life.  Until the 19th century ... food came almost entirely from
local sources and harvests were variable.  In good years, there was plenty
... in bad years, starvation cut down the poorest and the weakest ...
sometimes bad years followed one upon another, reducing the size of the
population by several percent.  This was the normal condition of life in
pre-industrial societies and it persisted for thousands of years."

" ... such a state of affairs is hard to imagine.  Food is so cheap and
plentiful that obesity is a far more widespread concern than hunger ... an
impressive array of exotic foods from across the globe [is available in
supermarkets] ... even staples are typically trucked from hundreds of miles
away ... even an hour's earnings at minimum wage will buy a meal or two."

We tend to assume that this abundance of inexpensive food will continue
indefinitely, however Mr Heinberg goes on to explain his somewhat gloomy
forecast in depth ... why "present and future generations may become
acquainted with that old, formerly familiar but unwelcome houseguest -
famine." 

Read the whole article at:

http://www.energybulletin.net/22584.html

CONTACT DETAILS: 

Robyn Williamson 
Permaculture Design Consultant
Urban Horticulturist
Local Seed Network Coordinator
NORTH WESTERN SYDNEY COMMUNITY SEED SAVERS
mobile:  0409 151 435
ph/fx:  (612) 9629 3560
http://www.seedsavers.net
http://www.communityfoods.org.au
http://www.communitygarden.org.au
http://www.baulkhamhills.nsw.gov.au/Bidjiwong
http://www.permaculturesydneybasin.org.au

I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of
ignorance. *-Reuben Blades*