Crashing Waves

Morgan Maher

Rising food costs and shortages of staples like beans, corn, rice and wheat are causing turmoil in many countries. Recently the UN World Food Programme (WFP) described the global food shortage as a "Silent Tsunami."

Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal, Mauritania, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico, Bolivia, Yemen, Mozambique, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Haiti, Philippines, Russia, Korea, Latin America, Thailand and South Africa are among places seeing riots or facing unrest concerning the supply of food.

A New York Times article about the food crisis in Haiti describes Haitian vendors selling "patties made of mud, oil and sugar."

In the United States and Canada, stores like Costco and Sam's Club are limiting the amount of rice that may be purchased, as some people are beginning to stockpile and hoard.

High fuel costs, climate change, the increase in land allocated
to bio-fuels and an increasing demand for a more varied diet across the expanding middle-class populations of Asia have been cited as contributing factors.

Photo by Inigo Alvarez for UN World Food Programme (WFP) via Peter Casier

"Silent Tsunami"via Bruce Sterling's Beyond the Beyond