Too Few Resources, Too Many People

Gas is now over $4 a gallon, and we are promised it will not go lower for a very long time–if ever.  And it may go higher.  For those of us who have good incomes, live close to the heart of the city, are near light rail–well, high gas prices are not going to affect our lives all that much.  So it cost me $48 to fill my car–but I hardly ever have to drive, so I probably won’t have to fill the tank again for a month. 

But if I’m a farm worker driving my old truck to the fields every day, I’m not able to make it–it costs me so much to drive to work that it doesn’t pay me to work.  If I’m a single mom working at a minimum wage job (or two of them) and driving a big old Fairlane Ford to work from my tiny apartment in the suburbs, I know I’m going to have to choose between gas and food, or food and rent.  Nevermind taking the baby to the doctor–can’t afford to drive there, can’t afford to pay the fee, can’t afford the meds.

At the same time, what’s happening to the cost of food?  Pervasive food shortages threaten many parts of the world, and crops this year are getting off to a bad start. Corn and soybeans are drowning in rain in this country, and in Australia drought is devastating the wheat crop.  Farmers are struggling to meet the demand, and millions of acres of land both here and abroad are being brought back into production.  Some of the harvest, of course, will go to power industrial countries, as oil becomes more expensive.  Already there have been food riots in two dozen countries.

As the global food crisis became clear, commodity prices have doubled or tripled.  Speculators are buying up land, fertilizer plants, granaries–continuing to drive up prices for food. 

What we are seeing in these two phenomena is the proverbial tip of the iceberg: too few resources for too many people.  The people who are going to suffer the most and the soonest–as always– are poor people.  The middle class may lose that vacation trip or the pleasure of eating out once a week–poor people will go hungry, will lose their living space, will not get medical care.  And the poorest of the poor abroad will die–they will not have clean water, they will be malnournished and not able to fight off disease, and some will simply starve to death.

Yes, such things have always happened in third-world countries–but more and more countries will become failed states, as they become unable to meet the basic needs of their citizens.  Many more in the U.S. will fall below the poverty line.  The only way to address such massive human suffering, such devastating economic conditions, is through policy change. 

But first we who are at the top of the food chain need to ask ourselves a serious question, “Do we really care?”  If the answer is no, then how do we live with ourselves and what do we tell our children about living an ethical life?  If the answer is yes, then the next question is, “How can we leverage our power to make a difference?”