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 So now it seems that while we sit on the heights and watch the seas
rise inexorably, and mop our brows in the unaccustomed heat, we're
going to be hungry as well.
As this millennium got into gear,
first it was international terrorism and the Iraq war that scared half
the world witless for years.
When that began to pall as a frightener, along came climate change and global warming to keep us in a state of anxiety.
And now that that has become a bit ho-hum, along comes the global food crisis.
I
remained untouched by the fear of terrorism, for I ventured only once
beyond these shores, and in any case I have long understood that when
my number is up then it's up.
I remain unconcerned about global
warming, convinced that carbon dioxide emissions, man-made or
otherwise, have nothing to do with it and, in fact, are beneficial
rather than damaging.
I am unconcerned at this stage about the
food crisis, although I consider it is far more dangerous, and with the
potential to do far more damage to mankind, than the other two combined.
All three are linked, of course. When it became bogged down in Iraq
and failed in every effort to bring peace to the Middle East, the
United States embarked on a programme to make that nation less
dependent on oil - Middle East oil in particular.
At the same
time a coterie of climate scientists with their shonky computer
predictions persuaded far too many politicians that CO2 emissions were
the main cause of global warming, and the pollies were stupid enough to
sign the Kyoto Protocol.
Thus biofuel became the catchword of the
day, and has now been revealed to have significantly contributed to the
sudden food shortage by diverting millions of tonnes of grains and
dairy products to its manufacture.
Why this was not foreseen by
the world's scientific community with their high-powered computers and
other 21st-century wizardry is a question still to be answered, for it
seems that the world food crisis has caught everybody unawares.
The
Herald's superb coverage of the subject last Saturday was a
journalistic masterpiece and a credit to all concerned. I read every
word of it but, as I said, I remain unconcerned.
I see this
crisis - and I don't for a moment deny its reality - as a timely
wake-up call to the world at large, a signal that we should, perhaps,
pause in our headlong pursuit of material progress and prosperity and
take an objective look at where we're at and where we're going.
While
I have no faith in human nature, which is inherently evil unless it has
been redeemed, I have a lot of faith in human ingenuity and mankind's
ability to adapt himself and his environment to the ever-changing
demands of nature.
I have no doubt that before, for instance, the
world's oil runs out, an even better alternative will have been
discovered and developed, if it hasn't been already.
I have no
doubt, either, that before parts of the world face starvation, new
methods of food production will have been developed to increase
nutritional outputs.
They exist already, of course, in genetically modified crops which have much higher yields than conventional plantings.
But,
once again, we need to pause to consider whether the free use of
genetically modified crops might quickly have the same sort of downside
as the headlong rush into biofuels.
One of the early benefits of
the food crisis is that it has caused a number of countries -
including, I hope, this one - to reconsider plans for biofuel
production and the financial and taxation structures being rapidly
built around them by politicians with an eye for a quick buck.
This
could well be a time, too, for us Kiwis to count our blessings and
thank God that we live in a land of plenty, well away from the madding
crowds of the rest of the world.
We might have to pay an
outrageous price for a block of cheese, a leg of lamb, a litre of milk
or a bag of spuds, but at least those things are and will be on the
supermarket shelves if we can afford them.
Imagine living in a
country where the supermarket shelves are empty, where you have to
queue for hours in the hope of buying a loaf of bread or a turnip, no
matter how much money you have in your pocket.
So while the food
crisis works itself out, as it surely will, I go along with Franklin D.
Roosevelt who, in a time of deep world financial crisis, entitled his
inaugural address on March 4, 1933, "The only thing we have to fear is
fear itself". Source
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