A perfect storm of shortages is what the BBC calls its series, inspired by the warnings from no other than John Beddington, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, of a possible crisis in 2030. See his entire speech here.

This perfect storm is one where factors combine to present challenges to the world’s population as yet unheard of.  Population pressure on land and water, combined with declining fossil fuel extraction means rising food prices. Coupled with the negative effects of climate change, we may be seeing migrants fleeing the worst-hit regions.

My comments

The vision of A Very Beautiful Place is that we CAN live well on less, that we CAN adapt, and that it  probably leads to a nicer life anyway.

It starts with food and water security. Organisations like the Humanitarian Water and Food Award are urging governments, industrialized nations and developing alike, to put this issue at the top of the agenda. If you are well-fed you have the possibility to use all your human ingenuity to solve other problems. If you are hungry you cannot think straight, you cannot work, you cannot even fight.

Food security is the base of prosperity. The recent attempts to create growth by stimulating  financial markets only serves to illustrate how far people’s thinking has come from the idea that we can live well in a very beautiful place – if we take care of it and each other.