Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization summary

    Lester R. Brown's article encompasses the effects that environmental degradation and population growth are having on the worlds food supply. Demand for food is growing faster than supplies can grow which is causing an increase in the price of food. When food supplies are to low to feed a country's population then the government often loses power. This leads country's to become a source of terrorists, drugs, weapons, and refugees which threatens political stability everywhere. The price of grain one of the worlds most important and most demanded crops is further driven up by a demand for crop-based automotive fuels. The problem on the supply side of things that is of immediate concern is falling water tables and fresh water shortages. Irrigation uses 70% of the worlds freshwater, water is being pumped out of underground sources faster than rainfall can recharge it. If water tables continue to shrink as they are we will be lead to unmanageable food shortages and social conflict. Soil erosion is of second most concern, topsoil is eroding faster than new soil can form. Topsoil is essential to our survival for without it crops will cease to grow. It takes long stretches of time for topsoil to build up and is usually only about  six inches deep. The third threat to the worlds food supply is rising surface temperature. An increase of one degree Celsius above normal can lead to a decrease in wheat, rice, and corn production by 10 percent.