A 'time bomb' for world wheat crop

[PLC1]

Its like the gas thing. When gas prices are low no one worries much and they are willing to do stupid things that waste money and time for the sake of the environment exc. When gas prices go high everyone wants to drill baby drill and tap natural gas exc. Then gas got lower again and they stopped telling their congressmen to drill here drill now. As prices rise they will re-chant it all again.

The wheat and the farms in general, no one is going to pay attention to till they have to pay 5 bucks for a tomato or 2 dollars for an ear of corn. then they will rant and rave that we have to take care of the farmers but by then the farms will be dead and the farmers bankrupt.

What I dont understand is why people are more interested in who won American Idol or who is on some other TV show but they dont care about the functions of our country till its too damn late

It seems that, so long as people are comfortable, nothing much matters. If we start hearing about people in some remote corner of he world starving due to this new threat to the wheat crop, no one seems to care. it isn't until we can't afford bread ourselves that we sit up and pay attention. We will ignore or even deny the fact that there is a finite source of water and of oil, but until we can't afford gasoline, then it doesn't matter. When things do become uncomfortable, then we look for quick, simplistic solutions to complex and long term problems. Politicians know this, of course, and are always ready with a simplistic solution that will at best not work, and at worst exacerbate the situation.

That's my optimistic take on the situation, anyway.

 

[Pandora]

It seems that, so long as people are comfortable, nothing much matters. If we start hearing about people in some remote corner of he world starving due to this new threat to the wheat crop, no one seems to care. it isn't until we can't afford bread ourselves that we sit up and pay attention. We will ignore or even deny the fact that there is a finite source of water and of oil, but until we can't afford gasoline, then it doesn't matter. When things do become uncomfortable, then we look for quick, simplistic solutions to complex and long term problems. Politicians know this, of course, and are always ready with a simplistic solution that will at best not work, and at worst exacerbate the situation.

That's my optimistic take on the situation, anyway.

But isn't that just sad? We are the greatest nation, I think we are smart and caring people. I want to think that anyway. but sometimes I think we are dumb blind sheep who just follow around a field doing what is comfortable, not reasoning, not thinking for our self, just following what all the other sheep are doing.

 

[Hobo1]

But isn't that just sad? We are the greatest nation, I think we are smart and caring people. I want to think that anyway. but sometimes I think we are dumb blind sheep who just follow around a field doing what is comfortable, not reasoning, not thinking for our self, just following what all the other sheep are doing.

The US is not unique in ignoring the problems of the world - every nation on earth has the mentality to ignore problems when times are good; and panic when times are bad.

If you really think about it, 5 decades ago we had 3 billion people on earth. Now the number is 6 billion, close to 7 billion. In another 4 decades there will be 10 billion people. Isn't it painfully obvious that we are headed toward more severe global problems in all areas - food, disease, pollution, resources depletion, etc. People who are destitute and without hope are going to lash out.

More people = more problems. Isn't that the real underlying story which never gets told when we read stories about wheat shortages? Since I do not see the world accepting anything like forced sterilization after 2 children, these kind of problems will only grow more severe and frequent. Eventually, mother nature will solve the problem in the same way she solved problems in the past: global starvation and global disease.

It's inevitable. I can't get too concerned about the never ending story of more and more black clouds forming on the horizon. The world is destine to experience a global collapse.

 

[Pandora]

The US is not unique in ignoring the problems of the world - every nation on earth has the mentality to ignore problems when times are good; and panic when times are bad.

If you really think about it, 5 decades ago we had 3 billion people on earth. Now the number is 6 billion, close to 7 billion. In another 4 decades there will be 10 billion people. Isn't it painfully obvious that we are headed toward more severe global problems in all areas - food, disease, pollution, resources depletion, etc. People who are destitute and without hope are going to lash out.

More people = more problems. Isn't that the real underlying story which never gets told when we read stories about wheat shortages? Since I do not see the world accepting anything like forced sterilization after 2 children, these kind of problems will only grow more severe and frequent. Eventually, mother nature will solve the problem in the same way she solved problems in the past: global starvation and global disease.

It's inevitable. I can't get too concerned about the never ending story of more and more black clouds forming on the horizon. The world is destine to experience a global collapse.

It wont be long before at least a couple of billion are dead, probably more really. Its strange where I live there is not that many people, why dont people spread out more. I would hate living all cramped like they do in big cities.

 

[PLC1]

It wont be long before at least a couple of billion are dead, probably more really. Its strange where I live there is not that many people, why dont people spread out more. I would hate living all cramped like they do in big cities.

And yet, a much higher percentage of humanity was hungry in the Middle Ages than is the case now, that with far fewer than six billion mouths to feed.

The difference is technology and trade, world trade. The question is how much longer we will be able to sustain that ever growing population through our technology and trade.

 

[Pandora]

And yet, a much higher percentage of humanity was hungry in the Middle Ages than is the case now, that with far fewer than six billion mouths to feed.

The difference is technology and trade, world trade. The question is how much longer we will be able to sustain that ever growing population through our technology and trade.

I think we are past the point of being able to change it. I do hope I am wrong but I think it’s just a matter of time before total world wide chaos on many fronts. Energy, food, money and who knows what else. But I really think its all coming to a head.

 

[Hobo1]

And yet, a much higher percentage of humanity was hungry in the Middle Ages than is the case now, that with far fewer than six billion mouths to feed.

The difference is technology and trade, world trade. The question is how much longer we will be able to sustain that ever growing population through our technology and trade.

This is indeed the most important question for the future. How long can human ingenuity sustain (and improve) the quality of human life on earth in the face of logarithmic population growth?

Jared Diamond's book, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" has actually traced isolated civilizations of the past that have consumed all of their available resources and perished from the face of the earth. So humans have demonstrated that they are able to consume their way to extinction.

I have an old blog which I never kept up at Whole World View. You may enjoy reading the article entitled, "The Reality of Life on a Spaceship." Everything has limits. Stars burn themselves out, and scientists know the universe has a limit to its size. Humans on earth are very ingenious at stretching our limits, but it can't go on forever.

 

[PLC1]

This is indeed the most important question for the future. How long can human ingenuity sustain (and improve) the quality of human life on earth in the face of logarithmic population growth?

Jared Diamond's book, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" has actually traced isolated civilizations of the past that have consumed all of their available resources and perished from the face of the earth. So humans have demonstrated that they are able to consume their way to extinction.

I have an old blog which I never kept up at Whole World View. You may enjoy reading the article entitled, "The Reality of Life on a Spaceship." Everything has limits. Stars burn themselves out, and scientists know the universe has a limit to its size. Humans on earth are very ingenious at stretching our limits, but it can't go on forever.

That is the great unknown. Just how many human beings can this planet support? No one knows the answer to that, but it is for certain that the answer is finite.