To: PermacultureInternational NETWORK <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>, CommunityGardens NETWORK <community-gardens@lists.green.net.au>
Subject: [permaculture] 50 million farmers: big picture future of food
Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 12:52:19 +1100
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."