Yesterday the Prince of Wales gave a very interesting speech at Georgetown University in Washington, DC about food sustainability. While he did not really say much new, he did make some very good points about the nature of the crisis which he has been emphasizing for the past few decades.
As humans, we are going to one way or another face a crisis when it comes to food. As is well known by now, the planet will simply not sustain our current population growth. As we move forward in time, we are going to start facing far more famines and hunger crises on a global scale. Everyone, including people in rich countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom, will be affected unless we start to find solutions to the problem.
One of the most striking figures which the Prince mentioned was the increase in land use:
“Here in the United States I am told that one acre is lost to development every minute of every day – which means that since 1982 an area the size of Indiana has been built over – though that is small fry compared with what is happening in places like India where, somehow, they have to find a way of housing another three hundred million people in the next thirty years.”
To read the full speech, visit the Prince of Wales’ official website.