With
recent record heat waves, prolonged drought and wildfires damaging 25%
of Russia’s crops, the government’s decision to ban 2010 exports in
order to ensure adequate grain supplies is in turn likely to cause
hardship in the Middle East and Northern Africa, where Russia’s largest
exports are made.
Many of these countries, such as Egypt, where
40% of the people live on less than US$2 per day, rely on provisions of
subsidized bread to maintain social peace.
The loss of Russia’s
wheat this year will inevitably result in rising grain prices, which
could have obvious adverse effects. Egypt, which in 2009 imported a
third of Russia’s overseas wheat supplies and relied on Russia for 59%
of her wheat imports, currently has a four month supply of the grain,
and has issued requests to obtain wheat from other countries.
However,
the government states that it expects the higher grain prices will cost
up to US$705 million, an amount that will hinder its ability to begin
reducing debt.
Meanwhile, with Russia’s heat wave being labeled
the most extreme in a millennium by the country’s Meteorological Center,
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the nation’s Security Council
that a change in approach is needed to address the more and more obvious
effects of global warming.
He stated, “Frankly, what is going
on with the world’s climate at the moment should incite us all (I mean
world leaders and heads of public organizations) to make a more
strenuous effort to fight global climate change.”
We are relieved
to learn Egypt has enough supply for the next few months, and pray for
adequate sustenance for all in need. Let us all act to conserve our
precious grain supplies and stabilize the climate by adopting
sustainable lifestyles such as the plant-based diet.
During a
July 2008 telephone interview with Mr. James Bean, host of the US-based
Spiritual Awakening Radio station, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed
the connection between global warming, food insecurity and our dietary
choices.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
So, it is meat diet that really causes the shortage of food. The grain
that we feed the livestock alone is enough for 2 billion people.
And
it’s not just about food shortage; it breeds war, because when people
are hungry and insecure about food, and famine everywhere, they might
just do anything. And that’s why we have war. So, I think a vegetarian
diet, it is truly necessary for us to survive.
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20100814044448/Wheat%20worrieshttp://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5912105,00.html
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