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As Hunger Rises, Chew on This

By Terry J. Allen

A diet of bread and water used to be emblematic of poverty. Now a global food crisis is transforming that meager meal into a luxury for much of the world. The prices of the world’s three main grains — corn, rice and wheat — more than doubled last year. The causes include poor harvests linked to climate change, diversion of… return to article

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    Here in the Philippines, where rice is not only the staple food but also an aspect of Filipino cultural identity, food prices for basics have nearly doubled within the past year. Some have gone beyond doubling. Lots of poor local people can’t switch out to another calorie source because there simply isn’t an equivalent that’s consistently affordable. Noodles is the next option, but wheat prices have driven up those prices as well. Also, the Phils has an inordinately large population relative to its land area (~88M, and growing at a rate of between 2 and 3% annually… at that sustained growth rate, the population would double in roughly 25 years). And as you might expect, the median family size of poorer families can be double or triple the median family size of the more well-to-do classes.

    We have not had food riots here yet, but I will not be surprised when they happen. The government has been importing megatons of Vietnamese and Thai rice, but those sources are also feeding many other southeast Asian countries, not least themselves. And as prices climb, the Phils will be less and less able to make up the shortfall. It aint a rich country. Local and international NGOs are trying to alleviate suffering where they can, but there’s a lot of apprehension out there about the future, both in the short and long terms.

    It surely does seem obvious that the people who for decades have been counseling a more parsimonious approach to the good things of life (including having several meals in a day… at one time this was considered a luxury!) had a point. We didn’t want to listen to them because it would mean having to think about nearly everything we purchase and the knock-on effects of having made those purchases, and we’d really rather just make our choices, enjoy them, and not give it another thought.

    That’s a way of thinking that appears to have reached the limit of its useful life; I think it reached that limit a long time ago, whether people acknowledged it or not. Definitely a “rich world” attitude, although it looks like the rich world isn’t immune from the effects of the factors that have combined to create this situation. Maybe that can mean that something substantive might finally begin that will steer us away from considering last generation’s luxuries to be this generation’s necessities. Things like that almost only do occur when rich folks are affected.

    We may just have to finally actively consider eating less, driving less (ride a bike or walk!), flying less, burning less, throwing less away, and simply using less of our many lovely treats. Maybe they’ll become treats in our minds once again, because now they’re regarded as essentials to happiness. Not exactly the most adaptive mindset one could take on, in this day and age.

    Philippines Posted by Kuya on Apr 16, 2008 at 12:21 AM

    consider ... less

    Exactly! Less means more for someone else.

    Canada Posted by Jiminy Cricket on Apr 16, 2008 at 10:09 PM

    Kuya,

    We have several tug of war areas contributing to these global problems. Corn for food/corn for energy, substitute foods/foods people want, entrenched wasteful habits/new conservative methods, large families/shrinking food sources, land for agriculture/massive building programs.

    I’m afraid the “rich world” attitude is precisely not only what has caused many of the problems, but will prevent any large scale attempt to institute the solutions which you list — eating less, driving less (ride a bike or walk!), flying less, burning less, throwing less away, and simply using less. This is obviously the sensible approach.

    Too many people are able to afford what they want and care too little about the too many who cannot get what they need.  Money and power usually win out until desperation leads to war.

    These same issues contributed to both WW1 and WW2. This next global one may solve the problems more efficiently — rapidly reducing the number of mouths to feed and eliminating the rich and powerful along with the not so well off.

    We seem to be slow learners compared to the animal world where even the strongest predators only eat their fill.

    United States Posted by whattheheck on Apr 17, 2008 at 9:44 AM

    “Exactly! Less means more for someone else.”

    Understand however, that this sort of thiking is anathema to the American Paradigm; to (the unenlightened) Americans (yep, I’m one too!), this sort of thinking smacks of “Socialism”, and that’s, well, just plain evil. Here in UhMurrikka, it’s all about “Me, me, me… and maybe also, me.” The governing thought of society here is: “I’m going to get mine, if you don’t get yours, well that’s your problem, isn’t it?”
    I’m not being facetious - this is really how we are nurtured here, from birth. Hummers & Cadillac Escalades are not “luxuries”, they are a birthright; forget food & blankets, we’ll go to war over the right to drive a huge car.
    (Retarded? You bet!)

    United States Posted by ptbSFO on Apr 17, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    Hi whattheheck,
    I think you’re right on the mark with your point about how humans are so slow on the uptake in comparision with other creatures, when it comes to our decisions about how much to consume. I think we can easily compare runaway pursuit of luxuries and treats to addictive tendencies, as we expend enormous amounts of energy and wealth to get our fix, even being willing to do things that are victimizing upon others or destructive to ourselves.

    (As you know, my opinion about the Iraq War smacks of this sort of addiction-based crime, doing whatever is needed as long as we can get what we’re jonesing for. Maybe that point would be regarded by some as a smidgen off-topic, but I think it’s still within sniffing distance of it.)

    I can’t predict this with 100% assuredness, but in my more hopeful and optimistic moments I think there’s a chance that in the world of the near future, those who are able to unhook from the culturally-instilled habit of melding necessity with luxury (as per the point made by ptbSFO above) will be able to enjoy a better quality of life. Not that they’ll have more stuff, because they’ll have less, but just that they’ll be able to appreciate the good things they do have more and (perhaps) decouple from the manic chase after more and more of our transient goodies.

    It’s not confusing, any creature will form an attachment to excessive treats if they have them in large amounts or they’re easy to get, as has been the case for Americans for so long (an animal example is the way some people’s pets get hooked on table food and won’t touch the regular pet food… we’re not immune from that tendency, but of course we have a greater ability to consider what we’re doing rationally and alter our behavior, if we’ll but use it). Scaling back won’t be easy for a lot of people, but those who do will at least potentially benefit. At least, I think enjoying a feeling of contentment with one’s life while spending less of hard-earned money qualifies as a benefit, surely better than its treadmill-like, rat-race opposite, with which I’m also very acquainted.

    My kids are getting some great lessons right now since their comparatively flush expat lives have ended and they’re having to punch a clock and strictly budget their cash to make ends meet (they’re in gap years before college, not to travel but to get state residency and especially to work… it’s my insistence). I give them a bit of help but believe me, it’s strictly limited and not enough to insulate them from what is going down in America these days. It’s cool, it’s what I want for them. Every reality check is a good thing, even if it sucks at the time. I’ll take lean, smart, and adaptable instead of overfed and overentertained any day, inshallah those will be the outcomes for them.

    Philippines Posted by Kuya on Apr 17, 2008 at 9:09 PM

    Kuya and ptbSFO,

    Perhaps a genuine tough economic time is exactly what we need here. When I finally gave up smoking after more than thirty years, it was because I got asthma at age fifty. When it’s your next breath in question the urgency factor kick in.

    Many of us have had it so easy for so long (it only takes a generation) our lack of imagination dulls the hardships of others we only hear about and can’t relate to.

    The oil dependency/Middle East foothold is something only a long-term attitude readjustment (not the Happy Hour one) can change. We are back here having been told to keep it “business as usual” while thousands of our young men and women are more concerned about seeing tomorrow than how high the gasoline price goes.

    In today’s paper I read a letter to the editor objecting to an article about the cost of this year’s high school prom. $1,000 was said to be an acceptable cost for at least some kids! The story was written as if this is OK.

    Having made a decent living I can remember how it was easier to give in than to insist on having them work and save. I grew up hearing how hard times were for my folks during the depression. They made things easier for me, but not without impressing what was and could be again.  I became an early saver.

    This morning I got an email from a cousin who is now in Sweden researching my father’s family. This is news to me:
    -----------------------------------
    Here’s the really interesting part: the family lived in what was more or less a cave, or hollowed out hill called a “backstubo” (church records again) at 114 Hjortseryd which may be a small village address or a very small rural road.

    -----------------------------------
    After coming here my grandmother worked as a paid servant when young and my grandfather was a coal miner — they must have seen this as a step up from such a life in the “old country”. I remember my dad saying his dad told the kids (9), “We are now Americans — we speak American.” Dad learned very little Swedish, did well in school, but had to quit to support his mother and younger siblings when his father died quite young.

    Among the things he never took for granted was education. Today that is among the things take as free and as such look at our school problems. Instead of gum chewing it’s gone to bomb threats and cops in the halls.

    I cannot stand to watch the news about the need to rescue bankers, loan insurers, real estate developers and even home owners who were speculating on multiple, no-money-down house flipping ventures. We need to make BIG changes really soon or we’ll get a hard lesson.

    United States Posted by whattheheck on Apr 18, 2008 at 7:32 AM

    Well, as Mahatma Ghandi once prophesized; “live simply, simply so that the others may live too.” What was true back then has become terribly more so in these times. And yet the pope keeps preaching against abortion and billboards keep advertizing monstrous-sized 4WD’s. The wall ‘s approaching fast.

    France Posted by chrisp on Apr 21, 2008 at 2:51 PM
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