At a downtown coffee shop yesterday morning, my companion ran into an old art school buddy who was just locking his bike before snagging a cuppa joe. As they talked, the subject turned to what’s become a favorite of many: the disintegration of the world. You hear lots of people express the thought that all things are worse now than they used to be. Their fears include the collapse of nature, and terrors for humanity we can only imagine (or, as Cormac McCarthy’s recent post-apocalyptic novel The Road illustrated, terrors most of us can’t imagine).
“It’s not all bad,” I piped up, which caused the friend to turn in my direction for the first time. “Of course it is,” he said and began talking about a speech made a few days ago by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at last week’s United Nations’ Food Summit in Rome, calling for a sense of urgency in the fight against global hunger. The friend mentioned the World Bank’s definition of extreme poverty as living on less than U.S. (PPP) $1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day. Half the world lives on less than $2 a day.
There have been news stories about recent food riots, such as the one in Bangladesh. There have been stories – even here in the U.S., one of the world’s most food secure nations – asking whether we could really run out of food.
And food is just one of the many pressing issues facing our world. Yet … it’s clear to me, every day, that some of the smartest people in the world are working hard to solve the very difficult issues facing us here at the beginning of the 21st century. Around here, we spend our days listening to some of these great minds, people of goodwill, talking about their work on global problems: eliminating poverty, securing food and fresh water for all 6.7 billion of us, exploring alternative energy sources, preserving global health and biodiversity.
In the 1960s, when people my age were young, there were half as many people on Earth as today. Back then, we knew of course that global population was growing rapidly, and it was a bit of a scary thought. But we used to say, “Well, sure, there will be lots more people … but there will be lots more smart people, too.”
That has turned out to be true, and hearing them talk about their work is what continues to give me hope for the future.
Photo credit: Its Future Is In Our Hands by Aussiegall.
One of these days, all of us consumers, will wake up and smell the coffee.
Don’t worry about nature falling apart. It is in good shape.
Do worry about our economy and our culture. Socialism is making great strides. With it will come food rationing and starvation. With it will also come censorship. Totalitarianism cannot stand dissent nor scrutiny.
Warren, I agree!
Ben, I believe we could see some chaos, and there are hungry people now, even in this country. But widespread and prolonged American chaos? I don’t see that. Suppose the food trucks stopped rolling, and grocery store shelves emptied in a day due to … pandemic? Terrorist attack? Strike? People of goodwill would be trying very hard to get those trucks rolling again. And afterwards – after a period of fear – it’s possible people would look more closely at implementing a food system more focused on local food.
Our culture was built on the idea that “civilization” is a good thing. I don’t see that changing. It’s not like we’d all just sit cowering in our homes. People would be trying to solve the problems!
Sometimes – in the world as in life – a period of upset can lead to better things.
Deborah
Wow!…clear thinking, and belief in the basic goodness of humanity…I’ll have a cuppa that myself. Cheers!
Ben’s actually right though, there are those out there who want to decide how we should all think and act, and they will do their best to get control. They think they can decide how to spend/spread our wealth better than we ourselves. Look at once-great Britain for an example. You have surveillance cameras watching the trash bins so you don’t put in more than your share, or don’t fail to recycle.
When you see someone who is hurting or hungry, do you help them?…. or do you look for another passerby and say, “I’ll pay you to open an office, have a nice career with medical care and retirement programs, and Oh, by the way, help that person when you get around to it?…and build yourself a nice cabinet-level department while you are at it.”
That’s the difference between real charity, freely given from a sense of personal responsibility and love of neighbor, and government social programs. When the government does it, it costs a lot more, and makes individuals feel they no longer need to care or help, it’s all taken care of. (Not to mention the unintended consequences…for example, if we give women money to feed their children, their husbands no longer feel responsible, so they leave…and by the way, you get a bigger check if you have more children…so you have more fatherless children in society.) It also gives the government control of that person in need, who is now dependent on the government, and may not have much reason to get back on his/her own feet.
That’s socialism and how it grows.
Either way, there’s nothing but good in learning to grow your own food. If there is no chaos and collapse this growing season, you are only stuck with the freshest, cleanest, most delicious food on the planet! It’s not all sacrifice and doom, you know.
Rebecca, so true. Thanks for the reminder.