Rabid Liberal Rants

In its annual report, the Red Cross warned of a possible surge in “food-related violence” due to soaring food prices. It suggests that several factors are contributing to the rise is prices:

Drought and climate change have led to a slow down in the growth of agricultural production: in Australia, wheat production plummeted by 52% between 2004 and 2006, and grain production dropped by 13% in the United States and 14% in the European Union in the same period. The use of mainly corn-based biofuels is also contributing significantly to the current shortages. Lastly, changes in eating habits in the West and in the so-called emerging markets primarily in Asia, along with rapid urbanization, have driven up demand for food, putting further strain on supply. Speculation on food commodities is also a major destabilizing factor.

There’s been a warning of food riots every month, from different sources. Sounds like things may destabilize in parts of the world by the end of the year.

As reported in Wired, Apple is suing NYC over it’s GreeNYC logo, saying that it will cause confusion with their Apple logo amongst customers and cause financial harm to the company. Give me a break Apple. First of all, the logos are in no way alike:

Secondly, in a city where practically everyone carries either an iPod, iPhone, uses a Macbook, or some other Apple product, I seriously doubt there would be any confusion or repercussion

Go pick a fight with someone else!

Great. Along the lines of my earlier post about pesticides and perchlorate in everyday foods, here we read about traces of pharmaceuticals in our drinking water.

Though barely measurable, these pharmaceuticals are present in a variety worthy of a medicine cabinet: drugs for aches, infections, seizures and high blood pressure; hormones for menopause; the active ingredient in a popular sedative; and caffeine — all bound for the city that never sleeps.

As TimesOnline reports, slowly, rioting over food shortages and higher prices has begun.

Population pressure and increased wealth are mainly to blame for the resurgence of food insecurity. More people are eating meat and dairy products in Asia, which increases the demand on the animal-feed industry.

They also talk about how biofuels is threatening world food production.

And in The Star:

Peter Brabeck, CEO of Nestlé SA, the world’s largest food company, foresees a struggle between the food and biofuel industries over arable land as fresh water supplies diminish.

“We will not find sufficient water to produce all the crops,” Brabeck said while reporting his firm’s financial results last week. “There will be a fierce fight for arable land.”

Arable-land acreage is indeed shrinking, even factoring out its conversion to production of fuel feedstock. Several million hectares of farmland disappear each year, as growing economies convert it into residential subdivisions and industrial parks. Declining fresh-water supplies further diminish the amount of land available for farming.

Food prices continue to go up due to more demand for grains, oil prices, and population growth in developing countries. Even my local bagel store had to raise bagel prices to $0.85. Wheat prices surged on Monday this week, and demand for soyoil/soybeans has been solid. Irwin Kellner comments in Marketwatch, explaining “Why it takes a lot more bread to buy dough these days”.

On the supply side, bad weather has affected key wheat-growing areas such as Australia and South America, cutting into harvests and thus reducing inventories. Another reason for reduced wheat supplies is that many farmers have diverted their land to biofuel crops, such as corn for ethanol.

Another article which explains why food prices are going up. From the Christian Science Monitor:

Two major trends have been pushing prices up faster than they have risen for more than 30 years. One is that increasingly prosperous consumers in India and China are not only eating more food but eating more meat. Animals have to be fed (grains, usually) before they are butchered. The other is that more and more crops – from corn to palm nuts – are being used to make biofuels instead of feeding people.

An excellent article which reiterates the point, that food prices are going up, because of corn being diverted from human consumption to ethanol production.

The amount of corn it takes to produce 75 litres of ethanol– roughly a tank of fuel– is enough corn to feed one person on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet for a year

Of course, the Iowa Corn Promotion Board will be right there saying it’s not their fault.

Just another reason we need to get new energy policies, get out of the Middle East, and let some countries fend for themselves. Oil is the root of all evil.

Here’s a good old article, which explains:

• why we’re in Iraq today
• why we’ll be in Iraq for a while
• why Iran may be next
• why there will always be instability in the Middle East 
• why we need a new energy policy, fast

Basically, it’s all about the dollar and oil.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer has an article on how harmful pesticides are found in everyday foods we eat. It says organic fruits and vegetables have little or no pesticides.

This, on top of the perchlorate [rocket-fuel] contamination in tap water, makes me wonder what exactly is safe to feed our children.

Another good reason to switch to organic food. Problem is cost. It’s always more expensive. For me, I don’t care too much, but when it comes to my kid, we go organics as much as we can.