Global Warming and Food

The one (1) trillion food industry is looking for ways to make profits by creating new wonder health foods with novel proteins. Gen. Mills of Minnesota thinks it found a new super food called ALT, alternative proteins. It comes from pulses, a branch of a legume family which include dried peas, beans and lentils. Pulses are in short supply because in the last 5 years, Americans have been gobbling proteins. Pulses can be eaten whole, grounded into flour or separated into 3 main parts: protein, fiber and starch. They have more protein and fiber than wheat or rice, provide B vitamins, iron, and zinc and help control blood pressure and bad cholesterol. Finally, they help the environment because while growing they return nitrogen to the soil reducing the need for fertilizers. It grows on smaller areas and lesser water.

Gen. Mills is so rich that he bought more than 70% of the 2012 to 2014 pea beans and lentils in Canada and USA. The other wonder health food is Maca. It is a turnip looking vegetable found only in the mountains of Peru, South America. In 2000, Navitas Natural, a US top importer of wonder health food, paid $7.50 per kilo of Maca. In 2014, the price was already $40 per kilo and still increasing. China learned that Maca is a cancer fighting super food and has doubled the power of Viagra about 10 years ago and since then has been buying all the Maca Peru can sell.

Today, 90% of all the Maca goes to China which buys at any price. Most US Corporations operate on the capitalist principle of profits for the benefit of the stock holders/owners. Because they have perfected the art of efficiency in their operations, their production costs are lower allowing them to cut the prices of the products and still make gigantic profits. The US food/health/drug companies have billions of profits used for research and innovation. They buy whatever commodities they think will let them make more profits. There is no issue of morality, legality and decency.

If Gen. Mills have billions of dollars to buy all the dried peas, beans, lentils available and, unbothered by its conscience will do nothing, some other food company like Kellogg’s, Campbell, will corner the market. What about the poor who cannot afford to buy these items which are good for their health (think cancer, diabetes, hypertension, kidney, liver problems, etc.)?

The materialistic world loves a success story. Unfortunately, success is determined by the money you make and not the good you have done for free for the poor/needy/sick of the world.

From 2020 to 2022 there were signs that the 2023 Mindanao El Niño will be bad. 1. Bislig’s Tinuy-an Falls, the second biggest in Mindanao had no water. 2. The water in Lake Lanao and Bukidnon’s Musuan Pulangi dam was more than 10 feet away from the shoreline. 3. Farmers all over have reported dried, wilted, dead plants/crops. 4. Fishermen say there is less fish. Because of the prolonged heat (January to April) the micro tiny planktons which fish eat and found in the shorelines died so the fish have nothing to eat. They go to deeper areas farther from the shorelines. There is less fish and prices of fish have gone up.

What’s the point? Global warming food shortage will make some: 1. rich, 2. malnourished, 3. die of hunger, 4. go to war for food. What should we do? Pray and ask God for help. God will help us but at the same time, we should listen and do what he wants us to do. The stumbling block will be the evil one’s enticement of greed and pride. The Lord’s Prayer includes a reminder to “deliver us from evil”, so we can do the right thing.