2y ago

Feed People, Not Factory Farms | by Peter Singer - Project Syndicate

Peter Singer points out that even with Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s grain exports, the world produces enough food for all.

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Blinken is right to say that Russia is responsible for denying food to desperately needy people around the world, but let’s not pretend that other countries are powerless to prevent the food shortages brought about by Russia’s willingness to attack ships carrying Ukrainian wheat.
This is something you really don't hear often enough. We could already feed the entire planet, we just don't want to (I mean many people surely do, just not the ones who matter). Our problem isn't food or resource production, but allocation
- Every time I hear someone say "the world is over populated" I always toss in "for the current economic system we are using."
  Like the whole thing with AI. AI taking jobs isn't the problem, it's that jobs are pretty much the sole determining factor on who gets to eat and who doesn't with our current system.
- Archer-Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus – also known by the acronym ABCD – control 70-90% of the world’s grain trade
  See https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/cereal-secrets-worlds-largest-grain-traders-and-global-agriculture
  
  Financialization seems to me to be the key issue, also in a general sense.
  Everything has been turned from serving its original purpose to serving capitalist interests - ie. making more money for an extremely small upper class. Who cares if millions of people starve or don't have potable water as long as there's a profit to be made from turning food into a financial instrument - nevermind that the system no longer actually does what it claims to do, ie "efficiently allocate resources."
Its almost like, if a lot of people stopped eating meat, we wouldnt have this problem. too bad.
- Or even less meat. Most countries do not eat the giant portions of meat or meat for every meal like the US does. Plus it's way cheaper
  
  Or even just less beef tbh. Beef is literally the most inefficient meat on the planet and it's not even close.
No word on how anybody would ship all that food to places like Kenya.
- If only we had some sort of ocean-going transports available to do this "shipping" with
  
  I hear Elon’s got a submarine that might work.

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