"World food prices have more than doubled, triggering a worldwide land rush and ushering a new geopolitics of food. Food is the new oil, land is the new gold," writes Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, in this scary glimpse of what is happening right now that is creating catastrophic conditions for the near future.
Each year almost 80 million more people are born and need to be fed. But a combination of factors lies behind the growth of hungry people around the world. Severe heat and droughts are destroying crops; water is in short supply; grain that used to go to people as food is being fed to livestock and poultry; more grain is being used to fuel cars; and 30 percent of the world's cropland is losing its productive topsoil.
Brown has written this book as a wake-up call for political leaders and the general public: Time is running out. He is convinced that feeding those who are hungry now depends on new population, energy, and water policies. Four of the most pressing needs are:
to stabilize world population
to eradicate poverty
to reduce excessive meat consumption
to encourage the use of food, land, or water that could otherwise be used to feed people
Brown ends with the following plea:
"We all have a stake in the future of civilization. Many of us have children. Some of us have grandchildren. We know what we have to do. It is up to you and me to do it. Saving civilization is not a spectator sport."
