My fellow Americans,
Remember when we were young and thought that everything was free because there was no such thing as money? We all rolled around in our parents shopping carts and watched them grab various items off of the shelves. It was almost like a new box of Corn Pops would magically appear for the next customer. I thought this was how everyone lived and how things always were. It's great to be ignorant. No wonder so many people choose that path.
So there is a new shortage. Unlike oil, we actually need this finite resource to survive. Unless you haven't been to a grocery store in the past couple years, you should notice that the cost of food has gone up. Like the shortage, this is due to skyrocketing global demand. I have been warning people that this was going to happen and I will warn you now that it will get a lot worse. When more people want something, it costs more to get it.
So how did we get here? Simple. Globalization. Companies wanted to manufacture their goods cheaper so they moved manufacturing plants to countries like China. Some see this as a good thing, some don't. Sure, this took away jobs from Americans but it created jobs for the extremely poor in other countries. Whether, it was right or wrong, it's really a matter for another discussion. The point I'm trying to get at is that we were creating income and the beginnings of fruitful economies in these countries. Then we realized that we can not only have these countries produce our goods but also consume them as well. So all was well. More consumers=good economy. Yay! But little did we know, more consumers also meant a longer line at the grocery store. Now it is estimated that 200 million Chinese will enter middle class by the year 2020. This is equivalent to the present day size of the US middle class. And it's not just China...there are plenty of other countries that will have smaller but significant growth. But who can blame them? They all just want to live, eat and drive like us. I hate George Bush just as much as the next guy but its completely ignorant to blame him for the rise in fuel prices. You also can't blame oil companies. Simple economics always yields higher profits for increasing demand.
How do we solve this problem? Also very simple but implementing the plan is near impossible for it requires drastic lifestyle changes. We still have it pretty good here in the US but it will take some dire conditions for people to really start to change. So here's my plan that will never happen:
Vegetarian (Mostly vegan) diet
We feed livestock.This is a huge waste of food, land and energy. An acre of land can grow enough soy to feed 60 people. An acre of land will grow enough grain to feed 2 cows. People need this food more than livestock do. Those animals should have stayed in the wild.
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." ~Albert Einstein
Smaller Homes/Self-Sustainability
If our homes are small and powered by the sun/wind and we had greenhouses to grow our own food, what would be the point of working 40 hours a week? By purchasing homes that are way too big than what we need and enslaving ourselves with the debt of a large mortgage and never ending grocery and utility bills, we place ourselves in the mercy of volatile markets.
Less is More
We need to stop buying things we don't need. I believe that the more people fill their lives with material possessions, the more unhappy they become. I wish I would have realized this sooner. I'm still in the recovering stage...I keep eyeing up the PS3...must...not...give...in.
No more Biofuels! Well...some is allowed
I'm for free energy, not alternative energy. As soon as I heard they were producing ethanol from corn, I felt sick to my stomach. What a horrible idea. So when did fuel become more important than food??? Does no one follow simple economics??? If we use corn to produce fuel, this increases demand, which will increase prices. There's effing corn syrup in everything! It's only good if you're using the waste from the food crops, not the actual food itself.
In Conclusion...
Maybe we were not so ignorant as small children? Call me crazy but I think it may be the destiny of the human race to create a sustainable economy where there is no money or starvation. This reality existed to us as children in the grocery store, why can't we live like that as adults? I think deep down its what we truly want for ourselves as a species. We should all be able to collect free energy and grow our own food. I hope we can all realize that we basically have the technology to do this...we just need the will power to live with less. Join me or not...I'm slowly moving towards that lifestyle.
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5 comments:
Corn is bad for you. Corn syrup is disgustingly bad for you, but it sure tastes damn good in Aunt Jemima's pancake syrup. mmmm...pancakes.
Maybe we'll be pushed to consume less unhealthy items. That's quite an idea right? America is fed too much corn anyways. I thought the whole idea was that it was so cheap to produce, we started to put it in everything so that items would sell better (because they were cheaper).
Yeah. High Fructose Corn Syrup is really bad for you. They started using it in the 70s(?) as a replacement for sugar since it was cheaper. It's also thought to be one of the main forces behind the obesity epidemic. I always see fat people drinking soda (diet or not).
Even though corn can be unhealthy, it's still taking up land for other crops when being used to produce fuel. Also, ethanol can be produced from other crops as well (switchgrass, sugar, wheat, grain, etc). So no matter what biofuel we use, it will still drive up food prices.
I could not agree more with your post, especially the part about living in homes you can sustain on your own. My dream house - Tumbleweed Tiny Houses I like Z-Glass, lots of sunlight:)
For dinner tonight, I had a delicious rib-eye on the grill, and a juicy ear of sweet corn. You're asking alot of me to give up those things.
Good post!
Things will never change, here in the US of A, until U.S. americans realize that we live beyond our means. We earn 10$ an hour, and try to live off of 20$ an hour. We think we deserve something we haven't worked for, or earned. In the end, such a system is doomed.
I agree 100% about living in a small house with a greenhouse and few/no bills. I think the trick is to live in a house with about 10 people, and only have one of them "go to work", while the rest focus on cutting the "cost of living" down to almost nothing. The "almost" part being the key, and the "one" worker bringing in that little bit of nessesary income.
As far as not eating meat, I used to date a vegiterian. I converted her to Carnavior by putting a baby in her belly.
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