Food Security: a Global Crisis

Food Security: a Global Crisis

http://www.ebrd.com/pages/news/features/ebrd-and-food-security.shtml

All living organisms need energy to survive, and as human beings, we satisfy those energy needs via food.  It seems obvious, then, that a global food crisis would pose major life-threats to the world’s people.  Living in the developed world dependent on capitalistic food providers, many Americans might not realize that there are an estimated 805 million people chronically undernourished around the world.  While it might seem a daunting task to feed the world’s projected 2050 population of 9 billion people, ensuring environmental sustainability, establishing stable political frameworks, raising public awareness, and finding alternate sources of fuel all offer viable means of resolving this crucial issue.

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4030e.pdf

The climate and soil quality are vital for agriculture, so in order to maximize not only crop yield but also nutritional value, we need to ensure that we are promoting a sustainable global living environment.  However, when it comes to actually implementing these ideals, we encounter two main roadblocks: science and economics.  First, while we have definitely made progress within the last few decades to develop advanced technology to slow environmental damage (solar panels, battery-powered cars, etc), we need a lot more research to design a completely 

environmentally-friendly yet efficient world- and doing so requires time, energy, and money.  Further, we need fuel to run machines, but often we obtain energy from biofuels such as corn or other grains.  Thus, we are forced to choose between feeding the world’s people and feeding the developed world’s machines.

http://www.foodsecuritynews.com/What-is-food-security.htm

As the government plays a key role in the distribution and regulation of food, another question we must consider is how we structure our governments.  Further, we must ask ourselves which public policies should we implement in order to best allocate our food resources.

Science, Technology, and GMOs

Finally, in our attempt to feed the world, we must ensure that the food we are actually nutritious and worthy of nourishing the world population.  While agricultural innovations have allowed for the mass production of grains and other crops, humans cannot survive on grains alone- we need sources of protein.  However, domesticating animals to produce meat also requires grains and crops as food for the animals, so, again, we are forced to choose between feeding people and feeding animals, which would then provide sources of highly nutritious protein.  Additional health concerns arise with the growing use of pesticides, chemicals, and genetically modified plants.  We might be producing more food to feed more people, but are these products actually healthy?