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ever increasing pressure on food supplies

“United States The last time America's grain silos were so empty was in the early seventies, when the Soviet Union bought much of the harvest. Washington is telling the World Food Programme it is facing a 40% increase in food commodity prices compared with last year, and higher fuel bills to transport it, so the US, the biggest single food aid contributor, will radically cut the amount it gives away.
“Morocco 34 people jailed this month for taking part in riots over food prices.
“Egypt The world's largest importer of wheat has been hard hit by the global price rises, and most of the increase will be absorbed in increased subsidies. The government has also had to relax the rules on who is eligible for food aid, adding an extra 10.5 million people.
“Eritrea It could be one of the states hardest hit in Africa because of its reliance on imports. The price rises will hit urban populations not previously thought vulnerable to a lack of food.
“Zimbabwe With annual inflation of 100,000% and unemployment at 80%, price increases on staples can only worsen the severe food shortages.
“Yemen Prices of bread and other staples have nearly doubled in the past four months, sparking riots in which at least a dozen people were killed.
“Russia The government struck a deal with producers last year to freeze the price of milk, eggs, vegetable oil, bread and kefir (a fermented milk drink). The freeze was due to last until the end of January but was extended for another three months.
“Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has asked the WFP to feed an extra 2.5 million people, who are now in danger of malnutrition as a result of a harsh winter and the effect of high world prices in a country that is heavily dependent on imports.
“Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf announced this month that Pakistan would be going back to ration cards for the first time since the 1980s, after the sharp increase in the price of staples. These will help the poor (nearly half the population) buy subsidised flour, wheat, sugar, pulses and cooking fat from state-owned outlets.
“India The government will spend 250bn rupees on food security. India is the world's second biggest wheat producer but bought 5.5m tonnes in 2006, and 1.8m tonnes last year, driving up world prices. It has banned the export of all forms of rice other than luxury basmati.
China Unusually severe blizzards have dramatically cut agricultural production and sent prices for food staples soaring. The overall food inflation rate is 18.2%. The cost of pork has increased by more than half. The cost of food was rising fast even before the bad weather moved in, as an increasingly prosperous population began to demand as staples agricultural products previously seen as luxuries. The government has increased taxes and imposed quotas on food exports, while removing duties on food imports.
Thailand The government is planning to freeze prices of rice, cooking oil and noodles.
Malaysia and the Philippines Malaysia is planning strategic stockpiles of the country's staples. Meanwhile the Philippines has made an unusual plea to Vietnam to guarantee its rice supplies. Imports were previously left to the global market.
Indonesia Food price rises have triggered protests and the government has had to increase its food subsidies by over a third to contain public anger.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology0801.php#food_shortages_260208

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it’s obvious the planet is too big for humans to have much effect

Keep on treating the planet as a dustbin....
dump the muck in the oceans....
dump it in the air....
dump it in the rivers....

no-one will notice.

The ocean pollution map incorporated into Google Earth.
The deeper the red, the greater the stress or impact.

“Only about 4% of the world's oceans remain undamaged by human activity, according to the first detailed global map of human impacts on the seas.” [Quoted from bbc.co.uk]

Ocean pollution around Europe.
Note the high pollution in the shipping lanes of the English Channel and the fishing and oil rig zones north of Scotland, as well as ‘hot spots’ near many major ports, high traffic zones and places little concerned about pollution

“Four years in the making, a groundbreaking new map of the state of the world's oceans was released today [15/02/2008], and its message is stark: Human activity has left a mark on nearly every square kilometer of sea, severely compromising ecosystems in more than 40% of waters.

“The map, presented here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (publisher of ScienceNOW)--and published tomorrow in Science--combines 17 anthropogenic stressors, including coastal runoff and pollution, warming water temperature due to human-induced climate change, oil rigs that damage the sea floor, and five different kinds of fishing. Hundreds of experts worked to weigh and compare the stressors, overlaying them on top of maps that the scientists built of various ecosystems, with data obtained from shipping maps, satellite imagery, and scientific buoys. Then marine scientists modeled how different ecosystems would be affected by the stressors, mapping so-called impact scores onto square-kilometer-sized parcels worldwide. The scores correspond to colored pixels on the new map.” [Quoted from sciencemag.org]

The 17 anthropogenic stressors are:

Artisanal Fishing
Demersal Destructive Fishing
Demersal Non-Destructive, High-Bycatch Fishing
Demersal Non-Destructive, Low-Bycatch Fishing
Inorganic Pollution
Invasive Species
Nutrient Input
Ocean Acidification
Benthic Structures (Oil Rigs)
Organic Pollution
Pelagic High-Bycatch Fishing
Pelagic Low-Bycatch Fishing
Ocean-Based Pollution
Population Pressure
Commercial Activity (Shipping)
Climate Change (SST)
Climate Change (UV)

Pollution in the ocean to the east of the USA.
Note, Iceland and the UK to top right.

The 14 distinct marine ecosystems studied are:

Beach
Coral Reefs
Rocky Reef
Hard Shelf
Hard Slope
Deep hard Bottom
Intertidal Mud
Kelp
Mangroves
Surface Waters
Deep Waters
Rocky Intertidal
Sub-tidal Soft Bottom
Soft Shelf
Soft Slope
Deep Soft Benthic
Salt Marsh
Seagrass
Seamounts
Suspension-Feeder Reef

Pollution in the seas around south-east Asia.

[All illustrations from Marine Impacts KML viewed in Google Earth.
To use the KML file linked above,
first download and install the Google Earth program [12.79Mb] on your computer.
Then click on the KML link and either “Open with Google Earth”,
or “Save To Disk”, saving to your computer to open in Google Earth later.
This information to be developed in detail.]

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ecology