Sunday, April 20, 2008

Crisis in Egypt: The Daily Struggle for Food - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Crisis in Egypt: The Daily Struggle for Food - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

This is scary stuff, and frustrating. Frustrating because the root cause is, at least in principle, manageable: human overpopulation.

I can see the eyes rolling among my imaginary audience. Oh, come on! Malthus this, green revolution that, problem of distribution the other. Biofuels evil, plenty of space, plenty of food, westerners waste and blah blah blah.
Hosmeia is bitterly poor, like the majority of the population. Her husband works "one day yes, 10 days not." He sweeps the streets, she helps him with that -- together they have five small children. Sometimes she can't buy bread for them all.
Five? Why? Never mind why. I think I know why, and I don't think there's much that can be done about it.

I think we're in for some very ugly surprises.

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