Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Food insecurity

"The rain patterns here have really changed, it's different from the old days when you would be sure of a bumper harvest after the rains," says 70-year old Haruzive Gunge, of drought-prone Chivi District of Masvingo Province, 350 km from Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.
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Changing weather patterns and increased frequency and intensity of hazardous events are overwhelming traditional coping strategies evolved over generations.
Zimbabwe: Regional Food Security Under Threat

So you think it's not reached here yet?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that more than 6 million seniors nationwide are food insecure.
Hunger an issue for state's elderly

You will be able to get food if you have the money for a long time.  As conditions worsen it will take more and more money, as climate change  renders previous bread baskets into deserts, or swamps. Eventually it will impact us all. Yes, unless you are very very old, you will see this. How bad it gets depends on our leaders. I'm not optimistic.

According to Michael J. Roberts, assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina State University, computer models suggest that average global temperatures will rise enough to cause severe weather extremes that could cut yields by 20 percent for major crops such as corn and soybeans for the period 2020-2049.

That could happen even with marked reductions in emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2), he said.

If those emissions remain on a “business as usual” path, Roberts said, the yield reductions could be as much as 80 percent for the period 2070-2099.

Warming climate could cause reduction in U.S. crops

All this will be occurring as governments enact austerity programs to deal with deficit spending and debt. The most onerous elements of these programs fall on the poor. But as commodity prices rise, we will all become poorer.

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