Globally Rational

I don’t think I have to tell anybody about the obvious ramifications of the recent cyclone in Myanmar.  All obvious points aside, I think the bigger issue might be that the tragedy happened in a fertile area at a time when the world is approaching a hunger crisis and, possibly, a Malthusian catastrophe.

Now we’re finding out that the cyclone also damaged about 200,000 tons of rice right before the rainy season.  This will also wash away some of the soil’s salinity and prevent future rice growth.  Luckily, Myanmar’s government has finally allowed some foreign aid… but it’s too late to save the crop.  This is one more step in the direction of Malthus’s prediction; if we can’t increase the global food supply in the near future, the world will reach its carrying capacity.  When a bigger population has to share a smaller amount of food, nobody is properly nourished and everybody starves (except, of course, people like you and me who will probably never have to worry about starvation).  If we can’t find a way to solve the problem soon, every dent in the global food supply will become a poison for the human race.

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