Full planet, empty plates : the new geopolitics of food scarcity Cover Image

Book

Full planet, empty plates : the new geopolitics of food scarcity / Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute.

Brown, Lester R. (Lester Russell), 1934- (Author).

Summary:

Food is the new oil. Land is the new gold.

The world food situation is deteriorating. Grain stocks have dropped to a dangerously low level. The World Food Price Index has doubled in one decade. The ranks of the hungry are expanding; political unrest is spreading.

On the demand side of the food equation, there will be 219,000 people at the dinner table tonight who were not there last night. And some 3 billion increasingly affluent people are moving up the food chain, consuming grain-intensive livestock and poultry products.

At the same time, water shortages and heat waves are making it more difficult for farmers to keep pace with demand. As grain-exporting countries ban exports to keep their food prices down, importing countries are panicking. In response, they are buying large tracts of land in other countries to grow food for themselves. The land rash is on.

Could food become the weak link for us as it was for so many earlier civilizations? Lester R. Brown, one of the leading environmentalists of our time, explains why world food supplies are tightening and what we need to do about it. Book jacket.

Record details

ISBN: 9780393088915 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9780393344158 (pbk.)
Physical Description: xiii, 144 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton, c2012.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Food: the weak link -- The ecology of population growth -- Moving up the food chain -- Food or fuel? -- Eroding soils darkening our future -- Peak water and food scarcity -- Grain yields starting to plateau -- Rising temperatures, rising food prices -- China and the soybean challenge -- The global land rush -- Can we prevent a food breakdown?