Higher grain prices, fertilizer shortages and rising energy costs are combining to spell hunger for millions in what is being characterized as a global “silent famine.”
Global food prices rose 65 percent in the last year.
The crisis is widespread and the result of numerous causes – According to some experts, the worst damage is being done by government mandates and subsidies for “biofuels” that supposedly reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fight climate change. Thirty percent of this year’s U.S. grain harvest will go to ethanol distilleries. The European Union, meanwhile, has set a goal of 10 percent bio-fuels for all transportation needs by 2010.A huge amount of the world’s farmland is being diverted to feed cars, not people.
One in four bushels of corn from this year’s U.S. crop will be diverted to make ethanol, according to estimates. Nevertheless, despite the recognition that the biofuels industry is adding to a global food crisis, the ethanol industry is popular in the U.S. where farmers enjoy subsidies for the corn crops.
Another contributing factor to the crisis is the demand for more meat in an increasingly prosperous Asia. More grain is used to feed the livestock than is required to feed humans directly in a traditional grain-based diet.
Bad weather is another problem driving the world’s wheat stocks to a 30-year low – along with regional droughts and a declining dollar.
High gas prices, increased food production costs and Global warming are the causes of present famine blamed.
Don’t blame God
When something bad happens, we want someone to blame. When the bad thing is a natural disaster, there’s no one left to blame but God. Wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves, lightning strikes. The insurance companies call them “acts of God.” Nobody is to blame.
Why does God let anyone die? Why did God let Mother Teresa die? “She was old,” someone might say. “It’s the natural way.
When someone we love grows old and dies of “natural causes” we accept it as the way God has designed the creation-there’s a time to be born and a time to die.
But when someone we love dies before growing old, we ask, “Why would God allow this to happen?” Death is part of life, and every person who lives will also die.
Whom to blame then?
While millions die of hunger, rich Western nations burn millions of tons of food a year to keep prices high. Famines are largely a result of Man’s corruption and greed and unwillingness to care for others.
Everyone one is looking for an answer on mans terms when there is none.