Am now reading a book titled "Famine: A Short History" by Cormac O Grada. Prettty grim stuff. But one thing he points out is that over the last 200 years or so, famines have been getting less and less common. Even the famines in Africa are of shorter duration and lesser severity than most of their historical precidents. Moreover, most 20th century famines were caused by bad politics or war rather than truly natural causes.

And when was the last time a G7 nation had a famine? France in the late 1700s, Ireland in the 1840s, and Japan in the 1830s are the most recent that come to mind.

So is famine on a mass scale becoming a thing of the past? Some say that with the GM crops we are risking future famine if a crop blight is serious enough, and of course there is always the boogiemen of global warming, peak oil (=no more fertilizer) and other environmental woes.

What say thee?

Originally posted by silent thunder
Am now reading a book titled "Famine: A Short History" by Cormac O Grada. Prettty grim stuff. But one thing he points out is that over the last 200 years or so, famines have been getting less and less common. Even the famines in Africa are of shorter duration and lesser severity than most of their historical precidents. Moreover, most 20th century famines were caused by bad politics or war rather than truly natural causes.

And when was the last time a G7 nation had a famine? France in the late 1700s, Ireland in the 1840s, and Japan in the 1830s are the most recent that come to mind.

So is famine on a mass scale becoming a thing of the past? Some say that with the GM crops we are risking future famine if a crop blight is serious enough, and of course there is always the boogiemen of global warming, peak oil (=no more fertilizer) and other environmental woes.

What say thee?

Originally posted by silent thunder
Am now reading a book titled "Famine: A Short History" by Cormac O Grada. Prettty grim stuff. But one thing he points out is that over the last 200 years or so, famines have been getting less and less common. Even the famines in Africa are of shorter duration and lesser severity than most of their historical precidents. Moreover, most 20th century famines were caused by bad politics or war rather than truly natural causes.

And when was the last time a G7 nation had a famine? France in the late 1700s, Ireland in the 1840s, and Japan in the 1830s are the most recent that come to mind.

So is famine on a mass scale becoming a thing of the past? Some say that with the GM crops we are risking future famine if a crop blight is serious enough, and of course there is always the boogiemen of global warming, peak oil (=no more fertilizer) and other environmental woes.

What say thee?

Hi silentthunder/

Famine a thing of the past?
I dont agree with it being a thing of the past, quite the opposite,in fact!
There's the G.M crops which many people are oblivious to and the media lies fed to us.
All one needs to do is to keep in mind '' how One World Organization'' would be able to control the World?
Food is at the top list!
If all else is destroyed by a catastrophe,whether by manmade or nature wise,who then do the people look for in need?
The famous movie ''The Omen'' part 2 ....Control the people through Food.
Although there is much more to this then I have said, it's enough for people to open their eyes and see what is REALLY happening!

icxn
helen

(Why cant I POST REPLY??????????

I don't think we'll ever have a natural famine anymore, due to globalization. Local regional crops might suffer, but they can just import from areas not in famine... if they can afford it.

And that's where my point is. Any famine these days is probably caused by an economic disparity. Africa is starving not because the world is short of food, but because Africa is short of money, for example.

I can also imagine more specific 'famines', like I've read that bananas are apparently going extinct or something, and there may come a day when the seedless banana no longer exists. (there's still other kinds though) Or, going to the animal kingdom, a certain species might go extinct due to overeating, such as overfishing of rare species.

GM foods are a problem, too, though I suspect for other reasons than famine. I think I won't elaborate on that, since it's slightly off-topic, and others are more educated than me on that. GM food = bad