An article from this week's Guardian prompts more naive analysis of what's going on. According to a leaked World Bank report it appears that I was wrong to give the turning over of agricultural land to the production of biofuels such a minor role in the current world food crisis it seems that it's responsible for a 75% increase in food staple prices since 2002. Remember this has a real and immediate impact on African countries which have no economic safety buffer - should biofuels lose their "sustainable source" label?
So what to do about it? At a simplistic level it seems to me that the economic model espoused by the US and it's economic followers is premised on growth ... forever. But agricultural land, fossil fuels and potable water are finite and, as more countries develop, there is more pressure on them and we seem to have reached some sort of turning point.
Eritrea, along with other African nations, is feeling the effects right now with shortages in fuel, bread, milk and (perhaps less importantly) beer ingredients already evident. The developed countries will hardly suffer in comparison.
But really is it not time for developed countries to feel a prolonged and deep recession? Is it not logical that development on the one hand must be matched by shrinkage on the other (given limited resources) if we are to achieve a more equitable balance?
To change the subject we now have more photos on the albums site – please take a look!
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