The Green Glance | Food crisis stems from poor environmental policy

Nathan Zucker Columnist

Extreme poverty and devastating hunger hardly come as a surprise to the Haitian people, who have long been one of the world’s most resource-deficient nations. Conditions have become particularly intolerable this year, and Haitians are now consuming a daily average of 460 calories less than the healthy minimum set by the United Nations.

Such a sudden crisis has ignited riots throughout the country, shutting down Haitian schools, businesses and government offices. Although this horrendous situation might seem temporary, it is actually a manifestation of long-term problems with the world’s energy policy and food distribution systems.

In just one year, the cost of wheat has increased 130 percent, and rice has seen a price increase of 74 percent. Unfortunately, there seems to be little relief in sight. Demand for food will reach new heights as the world’s population grows, and the cost of transporting such goods can only go up as energy reserves gradually dwindle.

Poor policy decisions are to blame for the sudden increase in food prices. As part of a renewable energy program endorsed by President George W. Bush, American farmers have begun converting their corn into ethanol, a fuel that can partially replace gasoline in most automobiles. Twenty-seven percent of last year’s corn harvest went into this program, producing 9.3 billion gallons of ethanol. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), stockpiles of corn are now running low because of this situation, leading to increased prices.

Using corn as an energy source is one of the most disastrous policies endorsed by the U.S. government. According to Princeton University researchers, converting corn into ethanol is extremely inefficient, contributing to global warming about twice as much as regular gasoline.

Furthermore, there is simply not enough land on which to grow this extra corn. According to U.N. estimates, the world’s population will grow to nine billion people by 2050; such a dramatic increase will require an unprecedented amount of food.

The jump in food prices is largely due to the expense of long-distance transportation. Just a few days ago, the cost of a barrel of oil hit a record-high $117. However, it is entirely our society’s own fault that food must be shipped such long distances. During the 1960s and 1970s, the USDA under Secretary Earl Butz enacted short-sighted policies that forced small farmers out of business, replacing them with corporate mega-farms that transported food across the nation to consumers. However, such a system comes with a gross ecological cost: For every calorie of food we eat, 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy are consumed, mostly by transportation.

Global warming itself is also a leading cause of the food shortage. Australia is experiencing its worst period of drought in recorded history, and many believe that carbon emissions are to blame. As reported in a New York Times article on April 17, some farmers have simply switched from growing basic foodstuffs such as rice to producing wine grapes, which are more resistant to the hotter, more arid climate. Although wealthy western consumers may be happy to see an influx of affordable Australian wines, such a transformation in production is devastating to the world’s poor and hungry.

Unfortunately, the problems we face today are simply the tip of a frighteningly large iceberg. Clearly, unpredictable and changing weather patterns could reduce agricultural yields even further while the world’s population is rapidly expands and demands more food. Furthermore, the deepening energy crisis may tempt us to rely on biofuels such as corn, reducing the land that is available to feed humans.

Although this situation may seem hopeless, a sensible energy and agricultural policy could resolve many of these issues. Our first priority must be to reduce carbon emissions, since there is no way farmers can maintain adequate food supplies if the Earth’s temperature rises 10 degrees in a single century. To this end, the government must encourage small-scale, local agriculture, which is much less energy-intensive than the large, industrial farms that dominate food production today.

Finally, society must develop true alternatives to fossil fuels such as wind and solar emergy, eschewing the false promise of biofuels that are neither sustainable nor practical. The unraveling situation in Haiti, as well as the recent increases in energy prices, demonstrate that the time to begin is now.

—Nathan Zucker ’10, a Latin American Studies major, is writing about environmental issues that affect both the Vassar community and the world at large.