A cure for world hunger (again)

[Arginald Valleywater]

Glad to see the world's rich do gooders planning to end hunger. This comes around every few years as they get bored trying to save the world and take over all of Arabia's oil. Simple cure. Stop having so many kids. What kind of parent lets several of their children die a horrible death from starvation and then have more? The planet has limited resources and as Lord Attenborough said years ago is already overpopulated by 2 billion.

[Flat_Eric]

Reducing the birth rate in the first instance and population reduction in the long-term are the only way of ending hunger and conserving the world's resources. All this "green initiative" and "eco" stuff is just cosmetic tinkering. A bit like the little Dutch boy sticking his finger in the dam.

Trouble is, the politicians of the world are so hamsrung by political correctness that they're afraid to address the issue in any meaningful and sensible way, so what we're left with is gesture politics (oh and higher taxes).

So time once again for Call Me Dave to showboat on the big stage again and no doubt pledge an extra few hundred million that we simply don't have, but that he & his pal Posh George will suddenly magic up out of thin air anyway. A grandiose gesture that will allow them to wallow smugly and self-importantly in the international limelight.

Time to get your wallets and purses out again, folks!

- Eric

[Essex Lad]

Arginald Valleywater wrote:



The planet has limited resources and as Lord
> Attenborough said years ago is already overpopulated by 2
> billion.

Think you mean David Attenborough not Lord Attenborough who's an actor.

[Sam Slater]

[quote]Reducing the birth rate in the first instance and population reduction in the long-term are the only way of ending hunger and conserving the world's resources.[/quote]

Not true. It's only a partial remedy. When you look at how much resources (power, food and building materials) a person uses in kWh/year you get the following:

Qatar---------------------------28495.1
Iceland-------------------------15606.3
United Arab Emirates--------14035.7
Bahrain-------------------------13651.7
Luxembourg-------------------12530.8
Netherlands Antilles---------12250.8
Kuwait-------------------------12087.5
Trinidad and Tobago--------11393.6
Canada------------------------11055.0
United States-----------------10381.2

Apart from Luxembourg and Iceland, most European countries use between 4000 and 10000 kWh/year (per person):

Finland--------------------------9613.1
Norway-------------------------7902.4
Sweden-------------------------7677.6
Australia------------------------7622.4*
Belgium-------------------------7595.8
Gibraltar------------------------6798.3
Netherlands-------------------6675.2
France--------------------------6017.6
Russian Federation----------5890.7
New Zealand------------------5831.4*
Czech Republic----------------5752.5
Germany-----------------------5597.7

* Not European but we class them as developed western nations and so worthy of note.

We fair a little better:

United Kingdom---------------5218.2
Denmark-----------------------5104.6
Ireland-------------------------5009.2
Switzerland-------------------4952.4

As you can see from the list, the worlds largest consumers of energy (fossil fuels/timber/food) not many of those nations would be considered over-populated and starving.

Now let us look at the energy consumption of nations considered over-populated and starving:

China----------------------------------1516.0
Iraq------------------------------------1266.2
Nigeria--------------------------------1034.7
Egypt----------------------------------1013.8
Zimbabwe-----------------------------990.6
Namibia--------------------------------852.4
Zambia---------------------------------800.0
India------------------------------------682.4
Sudan----------------------------------633.9
Pakistan-------------------------------608.2
Yemen----------------------------------392.6
Ethiopia--------------------------------370.1
Bangladesh----------------------------214.4

As you can see, a Brit uses more than 10 times as much power, per year, than an average Ethiopian. An American 7 times as much as a Chinese person and 13 times as much as an Indian.

Given that half of all Americans, Canadians, Australians, Irish, Brits, Poles, Germans (and an increasing number of other European countries) are overweight, with around a third morbidly obese, and given than in many African countries your average person eats the equivalent of a palm-full of oats A DAY, then it really isn't just about the number of brown-skinned, bony kids you see on your telly with flies climbing up their nostrils.

If African birth-rates were halved, they don't really use enough of the Earth's resources to make a dent. Just you or I keeping our mobile phone and laptops charged over the year probably uses more power than an Ethiopian family of 12. And we certainly eat more.

Of course, environmentalists are just liberal, Guardianistas with too much time on their hands who won't be happy until you're walking everywhere with a rucksack on your back, wearing sandals and eating porridge made from the neighbour's breast milk so best to ignore all those pesky numbers and put Top Gear on. Jeremy will tip over a 2-berth caravan for our entertainment, tell us to splash out on a new motor and everything will be right in the world. Much easier to blame the starving foreigners for everything. Takes the responsibility right off our shoulders!

[David Johnson]

"So time once again for Call Me Dave to showboat on the big stage again and no doubt pledge an extra few hundred million that we simply don't have,"

The above statement is clearly not true is it?

The Bank of England has poured ?125 billion into quantitative easing since Cameron announced in autumn 2010 that the recession was over due to coalition sound financial management.

Don't know about you, Eric but I haven't noticed that ?125 billion come out the other side of the banks to Joe Public.

"We simply don't have the money" - to pay disability benefits to terminally ill people who get their benefits stopped because they are "fit for work".

"We have loads of the stuff" - to give away to banks at low rates so that they can maximise their profits from Joe Public.

[Flat_Eric]

Sam Slater wrote:

[quote]Of course, environmentalists are just liberal, Guardianistas with too much time on their hands who won't be happy until you're walking everywhere with a rucksack on your back, wearing sandals and eating porridge made from the neighbour's breast milk so best to ignore all those pesky numbers and put Top Gear on. [/quote]

Never a truer word Sam. Never a truer word. And I don't know about you but I can't wait for Jezza's new Xmas DVD.

@ David - I agree entirely. I was being facitious when I said that we don't have the wedge. When the Third World or the EU or the bankers come calling, there seemingly is no end to the largesse of our politicians.

But Joe Public UK can basically just fuck off because then, the cupboard is bare.

- Eric

[Sam Slater]

I think you'll find the rest of my post was pretty fucking spot-on as well.

[David Johnson]

Ah, my error. Apologies.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Oops thought David had been made a Lord aswell!! Some useful info above but the energy usage tables are not the greatest indicator. Of course someone in a wealthy industrialised country will use more energy. What the great and good need to aim for is a decent quality of life for all, such as clean water, power, food, safety and shelter. A goat herder in Algeria may not aspire to our way of life but in my eyes is an equal and should be able to live as he pleases. We tend to think everyone wants a super luxury lifestyle but that is marketing. Years ago I read an article about the fall of communism. Nobody in the west cared about their freedom, they just focused on more profits and bigger bonuses, Xerox saw a free Russia as an extra 20m copier sales.....of course there are those who want a weak powerless third world so they can screw them for their resources. Ahem.