Is the food scarcity scare for real

These are but two of the hundreds of steps that can be taken to cut carbon emissions and stabilize climate. Ironically, given the role of automobiles in raising the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels that drive climate change, the fuel efficiency of the vehicle we drive to the supermarket may affect the price of the foodstuffs inside that very same store.

Many Americans see terrorism as the principal threat to security but, for much of humanity, the effects of water shortages and rising temperatures on food availability are far more important issues. For the 3,000,000,000 people who live on two dollars a day or less and who spend up to 70% of their income on food, even a modest rise in prices quickly can become life-threatening. For them, it is the next meal that is the overriding concern.

Lester R. Brown, Ecology Editor of USA Today, is president of Earth Policy Institute, Washington, D.C., and author of Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures.

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