Still eating dirt in Haiti - the "silent tsunami" spreads

[tinythinker]

Haiti’s poor resort to eating mud as prices rise
Tues., Jan. 29, 2008

Food prices around the world have spiked because of higher oil prices, needed for fertilizer, irrigation and transportation. Prices for basic ingredients such as corn and wheat are also up sharply, and the increasing global demand for biofuels is pressuring food markets as well.

The problem is particularly dire in the Caribbean, where island nations depend on imports and food prices are up 40 percent in places.

The global price hikes, together with floods and crop damage from the 2007 hurricane season, prompted the U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency to declare states of emergency in Haiti and several other Caribbean countries...

With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies.

Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22902512/


Food crisis 'a silent tsunami'
Tue April 22, 2008

Those battling global warming by promoting biofuels may unintentionally be adding to skyrocketing world food prices, creating what one expert calls "a silent tsunami" in developing nations...

Soaring food prices have triggered violence in some developing countries, and biofuels are bearing at least part of the blame.

Producing fuel from plant crops is supposed to be greener than drilling for oil, and biofuels generally burn cleaner, too. But the global biofuels industry now stands accused of a list of side effects that are said to be damaging lives, especially of the world's poorest people.

"The drive for more biofuels means more investment is going into those crops, meaning less land and less investment going in for food crops, causing a massive conflict and resulting in rising prices, which is having a huge negative impact, especially on developing countries," said Clare Oxborrow, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth.

Critics also say that in Africa, Asia and South America, people are being driven from their land and forests are being cleared to make room for the booming biofuel industry...

The rising prices are "threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations' World Food Program, said on the agency's Web site Tuesday.

Sheeran is one of the experts attending a Food summit hosted Tuesday by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, aimed at determining ways to boost food supplies and identify deterrents... Sheeran said the increase in food prices is "a silent tsunami that respects no borders."

"The world's misery index is rising ... as soaring food and fuel prices roll through the lives of the most vulnerable," she said Friday.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04 ... cnnSTCText


Hunger 'Tsunami' Sweeping Nations
Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2008

By AP/DAVID STRINGER

Ration cards. Genetically modified crops. The end of pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap supermarkets.

These possible solutions to the first global food crisis since World War II — which the World Food Program says already threatens 20 million of the poorest children — are complex and controversial. And they may not even solve the problem as demand continues to soar.

A "silent tsunami" of hunger is sweeping the world's most desperate nations, said Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, speaking Tuesday at a London summit on the crisis.

The skyrocketing cost of food staples, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and demand from India and China, has already sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

The price of rice has more than doubled in the last five weeks, she said. The World Bank estimates food prices have risen by 83 percent in three years.

"What we are seeing now is affecting more people on every continent," Sheeran told a news conference...

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... cnn-topics


Food price rise 'global crisis,' says U.N. chief
Fri April 25, 2008

The U.N. secretary-general sounded a warning about rocketing food prices on Friday, saying the problem has developed into a "real global crisis."

Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations was very concerned, as were all members of the international community.

"We must take immediate action in a concerted way all throughout the international community," he said.

Ban spoke to reporters Friday at Vienna's U.N. offices during a trip to the Austrian capital to meet with the nation's top leaders and hold talks on how the United Nations and European Union can forge closer ties.

"This steeply rising price of food -- it has developed into a real global crisis," Ban said, adding that the World Food Program has made an urgent appeal for an additional $755 million to "fill the missing gap" so it can carry out its humanitarian work.

Ban urged leaders to sit down together on an "urgent basis" to discuss how to improve economic distribution systems and how to improve and promote agricultural production.

His comments echo those of other U.N. officials who have rung alarm bells in recent days over the rapidly increasing cost of food staples, which has already sparked violent protests in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04 ... cnnSTCText



Farmers defend ethanol in Washington
Wed April 30, 2008

Farmers and ethanol producers defended their good fortune Wednesday in the nation's capital, where more lawmakers are blaming a corn-for-fuel policy for soaring food prices.

Farmers and ethanol executives told reporters that the biofuel industry is not the culprit behind skyrocketing corn and wheat prices that have set off riots abroad and grocery sticker shock in America.

"While we do have some role in higher corn prices, we're closer to a Little Bo Peep than an ax murderer," said Rick Tolman, President of the National Corn Growers Association at the National Press Club.

But there is little agreement on just how much impact biofuels like ethanol have had on food prices.

The ethanol industry puts the cost increase at 4 percent, while the Department of Agriculture says the figure is closer to 20 percent. International aid groups, including the World Bank, say ethanol accounts for a much larger chunk of the price surge.

As Congress readies its remedy search, ethanol producers fear the instinct will be to slash government incentives that encourage farmers to grow corn for fuel, rather than food.

That fear has been confirmed to a degree this week, as two Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill proposed curtailing ethanol subsidies.

The portion of total U.S. corn plantings used for ethanol is expected to increase to 22 percent this year, up from 17 percent last year, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Poor weather conditions and a falling dollar should share blame for rising prices, but the ethanol industry said the biggest driver has been increasing fuel costs...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/30/ ... newssearch



Unrest prompts U.S. military probe of food crisis
Mon May 5, 2008

From Barbara Starr
CNN Pentagon Correspondent

In light of growing unrest around the world over rising food prices, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is asking for a closer look at the crisis and its security implications, a U.S. military official said Monday.

Adm. Michael Mullen has instructed his staff to investigate the matter so his office can be prepared in the event the crisis becomes a defense issue, the source said.

It's the first time the highest levels of the U.S. military have become involved in the issue.

The crisis first gained international attention when riots broke out several weeks ago in Haiti and Egypt over the high cost of food.

The U.S. military official emphasized that there is "no military planning" and no intention of getting U.S. troops involved in the crisis...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/05/food.s ... cnnSTCText



Somalis riot over food prices
Mon May 5, 2008

Thousands of people rioted in the streets of the Somali capital on Monday to protest rising food prices and shops' refusal to accept Somali currency.

Witnesses said two protesters were shot dead by Somali soldiers who were guarding buildings that were attacked by demonstrators.

Abdinur Farah told The Associated Press his uncle was one of those killed.

His uncle was shot as he marched with his two wives and six children, Farah told the AP.

"He was just peacefully expressing his feelings," AP quoted Farah as saying. "It is saddening that the very government which is supposed to support him killed him."

Abdi Ud, a journalist with Somalia's Shabelle Media Network, said the protesters were angry because Mogadishu shopkeepers refused to accept Somali shillings and instead demanded payment in U.S. dollars.

Shops throughout the city closed down in fear of the demonstrations, he said...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05 ... newssearch

[KR Wordgazer]

I found this place where a person like me can actually do something to help:

Food for the Poor

[tinythinker]

This may be of interest as well...

Free Rice

[Metacrock]

ok now do you see its the end times?

No?

well I finally got high speed, that proves it right?

[Antimatter]

ok now do you see its the end times?

No?

In all seriousness, I think it's counterproductive to conclude that we're in the end times. Regional food shortages are real problems that humanity will need to solve to maintain or improve our quality of life. The return of Christ tomorrow isn't going to conveniently take away all of our ills for the foreseeable future.

That and people have been warning us about being in the end times for 2000 years, so the track record of history isn't in your favor.

well I finally got high speed, that proves it right?

Oh, uh ... Ok, you've convinced me! I'm retreating to my fully stocked bomb shelter.

[tinythinker]

The guest on Coast-to-Coast AM last night was suggesting the same thing, only he feels it is a secret society that is trying to bring about the destruction of humanity (which would then prompt God to intervene by fulfilling a particular version of Millenarian prophecy.)