The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It / Edition 1

by Julian Cribb

Overview

In The Coming Famine, Julian Cribb lays out a vivid picture of impending planetary crisis—a global food shortage that threatens to hit by mid-century—that would dwarf any in our previous experience. Cribb's comprehensive assessment describes a dangerous confluence of shortages—of water, land, energy, technology, and knowledge—combined with the increased demand created by population and economic growth. Writing in brisk, accessible prose, Cribb explains how the food system interacts with the environment and with armed conflict, poverty, and other societal factors. He shows how high food prices and regional shortages are already sending shockwaves into the international community. But, far from outlining a doomsday scenario, The Coming Famine offers a strong and positive call to action, exploring the greatest issue of our age and providing practical suggestions for addressing each of the major challenges it raises.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520271234
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/10/2010
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Julian Cribb is an award-winning journalist and science writer and the author of The White Death.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xi

1 What Food Crisis? 1

2 Food ... or War? 14

3 The Well Runs Dry 30

4 Peak Land 48

5 Nutrients-The New Oil 69

6 Troubled Waters 86

7 Losing Our Brains 100

8 Eating Oil 119

9 The Climate Hammer 135

10 Elephants in the Kitchen 154

11 A Fair Deal for Farmers 168

12 Food in the Future 187

List of Conversions 205

Notes 207

Index 235

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The sheer number of terrifying facts make the book gripping."—New York Times Book Review

"All of us interested in a sustainable food system should read this book and become part of the conversation to determine how we can best redesign the global food system to meet the challenges ahead."—Audubon Magazine

"Makes clear just how intertwined global warming is with food security."—Chronicle of Higher Education

"Cribb . . . advocates making much better use of our brains and investing much more in improving both small and large-scale agriculture."—Law Society Journal

"Presents a smart and compelling description of the challenges our children will likely face as the world's growing population and our shrinking resources collide. "—National Catholic Reporter

Editorial Reviews

All of us interested in a sustainable food system should read this book and become part of the conversation to determine how we can best redesign the global food system to meet the challenges ahead.

Audubon Magazine

"The sheer number of terrifying facts make the book gripping."—New York Times Book Review

"All of us interested in a sustainable food system should read this book and become part of the conversation to determine how we can best redesign the global food system to meet the challenges ahead."—Audubon Magazine

"Makes clear just how intertwined global warming is with food security."—Chronicle of Higher Education

"Cribb . . . advocates making much better use of our brains and investing much more in improving both small and large-scale agriculture."—Law Society Journal

"Presents a smart and compelling description of the challenges our children will likely face as the world's growing population and our shrinking resources collide. "—National Catholic Reporter

From the Publisher

Much of The Coming Famine builds an argument that we've jumped off a cliff and that global chaos—a tidal wave of people fleeing their own countries for wherever they can find food—is all but guaranteed. The rest of the book concentrates on catching an outcropping of rock with a finger and scrambling back up. The writing is neither personality-filled nor especially fluid, but the sheer number of terrifying facts makes the book gripping.
—The New York Times

Mark Bittman

Presents a smart and compelling description of the challenges our children will likely face as the world’s growing population and our shrinking resources collide. “

National Catholic Reporter

Cribb . . . advocates making much better use of our brains and investing much more in improving both small and large-scale agriculture.

Law Society Journal - Stephen Booth

Makes clear just how intertwined global warming is with food security.

Chronicle Of Higher Education

"Cribb writes both eloquently and accessibly. . . . The book is well structured for its target audience of a general public."

Human Ecology - Oscar A. Forero