A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
www.brucenixon.com
Increasing population and decreasing rainfall and soil fertility make Africa uniquely vulnerable to famine.
Climate change is expected to make a bad situation worse through more frequent droughts and floods.
Hunger and malnutrition are getting worse, as a result of climate change, peak oil, over -exploitation of the
environment and degradation of the earth. Recession has led to less aid for important projects such as
building roads to help farmers get their produce to market. The rising price of oil is causing higher food
prices, partly because of increases in the cost of fertilisers and pesticides and growing crops for bio-fuels.
Other causes are natural disasters, drought, wars and civil wars which drive people off their land. Western
Governments contribute to wars and civil wars through unethical foreign policies and armament sales.
Strictly even-handed interventions are essential to foster conflict resolution without resort to violence. Too
little is invested in such initiatives.
World food prices are rising: wheat prices increased 130% and soya prices by 87% 2007-8. Fertilizer prices
are rising. Meanwhile, the profits of the top three fertiliser companies rose 139% during 2007 and profits
from the top three seed and pesticide corporations rose 91%.
Whilst hunger and malnutrition in the world are growing, food waste in the North is enormous.
Supermarkets cause suppliers to return as much as half their good vegetables and fruit to the soil just
because it does not look right. Allegedly supermarkets throw away large quantities of good food
unnecessarily. Householders throw away a third of what they buy, often because they have been encouraged
to buy more than they need by sales promotions.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals for the 21st century aim to halve the proportion of
hungry people in the world by 2015. But the obstacles in minds and institutions are considerable.
Misguided trade policies put local farmers out of business by enabling wealthy countries to dump food
products on poor countries at low prices which undercut local farmers. This is often the unintended
consequence of aid. In Haiti, for example, local farmers cannot compete with food aid such as rice from USA.
That damages local food production and drives farmers off the land and into the cities where there is no
employment and conditions are desperate. Poverty in Haiti leads to people cutting down trees to make a
living from charcoal. As a result of deforestation, good soil washes into the Caribbean. It is a vicious circle
that will take years of wise policies and the right kind of aid to reverse.
Unhealthy eating in rich countries results from poverty and excess. Fast food, diet simplification, decline in
the eating of pulses and the use of refined carbohydrate and unhealthy fats lead to ill-health. In part this
comes from the industrialisation of food, turning food into a commodity, mass retailing, competition and an
emphasis on low prices instead of value and nutrition. The same issue applies everywhere: lack of respect for
food and those who grow it. Mass produced food has often been stripped of important ingredients. To be
healthy, human beings need a complex variety of fresh, nutritious food. Children who eat more diverse foods
develop better height for age scores which are a good measure of healthy development.
As a general rule, the more that food is processed, the less good it does you. Organic muesli made from
unprocessed grains and other whole ingredients is far better for you than cereals processes by filling them
with air or separating their constituents. Today’s breakfast cereals were born when it was realised that more
money could be made by separating out different constituents of the grain thus creating a variety of
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