A bit ironic to quote that considering how the speech was 55 years ago, and the green revolution is going stronger than ever. If anything the crisis of the next 50 years will be the economic and societal pressures crushing the childbirth rate in Western countries.

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slavik81 4 days ago | parent [-]

It's terrifying that 96% of all mammalian life on Earth is now human beings and our livestock. We might be able to feed more people, but habitat destruction is already the greatest threat to most wild species. Humans are doing fine, but the toll on everything non-human has been enormous. We are living through one of the greatest mass-extinction events in Earth's history.

I don't fear famine, but I worry about what we're doing to our planet.

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bbarnett 3 days ago | parent [-]

You should fear famine. The biggest issues with global warming or famine, are the wars they will cause.

If large prosperous nations cannot obtain food, that is, no one has food to sell, then those nations will take food.

At whatever cost.

If they do not, then such a nation will tear itself apart from within. The options are, take from others, or take from your fellow citizens.

This is the reality, and no amount of hope or wishful dreams will change that fact. People will not let their children starve.

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rkomorn 3 days ago | parent [-]

You're absolutely right about the path to war.

This is why famine and access to fresh water are my two biggest worries when it comes to our climate change driven future.

	▲	bbarnett 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Even softer changes due to climate change are worrisome. Imagine if ocean currents shifted, which keep Northern California up into BC warmer, and the UK and other parts of Europe warmer. That's a lot of farmland changed. The inverse could happen too. Instead of no longer bringing warm water to those coasts, cold water currents could arrive. You could have snow in Norhern California for most of the year, even while the rest of the planet warms. So many variables. Canada has immense amounts of bog thawing, and bog/swamp is very fertile land. But it's still further North, which means short growing seasons, and too much sun for some plants per day. We should be creating crops which can handle those conditions, even if just through normal breeding. Ah well.