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Study predicts societal collapse by 2040 due to food shortages

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Joco

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Oct 29, 2017
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A scientific model has suggested that society will collapse in less than three decades due to catastrophic food shortages if policies do not change.
The model, developed by a team at Anglia Ruskin University's Global Sustainability Institute, does not account for society reacting to escalating crises by changing global behaviour and policies.

However the model does show that our current way of life appears to be unsustainable and could have dramatic worldwide consequences.

Dr Aled Jones, the Director of the Global Sustainability Institute, told Insurge Intelligence: "We ran the model forward to the year 2040, along a business-as-usual trajectory based on 'do-nothing' trends — that is, without any feedback loops that would change the underlying trend.

"The results show that based on plausible climate trends, and a total failure to change course, the global food supply system would face catastrophic losses, and an unprecedented epidemic of food riots.

"In this scenario, global society essentially collapses as food production falls permanently short of consumption."
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Edit: Link to story
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Advc

Advc

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And because of stuff like this, I'm getting more and more inclined towards not wanting to have kids anymore. This is getting scary for real now.
 
DavidDesu

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Making the right assumptions to say that probably nothing will change. We need worldwide revolutions sometime in the next decade or so, and people realising that life will have to get worse for everyone as we all take a hit, otherwise we're headed towards a political, social and climate led crunch of almighty proportions. I don't see it happening but I hope I'm wrong.
 
jay

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It's absurd to think we will just do nothing. We will divert resources to the rich countries and let the rest of the world starve.
 

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The article is from 2015. Also, I'm not sure I would take seriously any article that doesn't give solid data for population projections.
 
EvilChameleon

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In addition to climate change, there are just too many people on the planet. It might be time for the UN to implement a two child policy like China used to, worldwide.
 
LegendofJoe

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This will lead to the fall of democracy and most of the freedoms and conveniences we take for granted will go with it. But by all means let's keep eating meat with every meal.
 
Dekuman

Dekuman

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Models are prone to biases. This sort of alarmism can also be dangerous. Study is produced by a think tank with a particular bent

In any case the first world can afford to eat. I'm more concerned about the third world where in all honestly progressive /sustainable policies are expensive , not practical , taboo , not popular , or all of the above
 
BringBackSonics

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Several of my neighbors have their own gardens, and there are a few small farms that sell directly to consumers (You can sign up to get a weekly box of produce/eggs from the Farm). I feel like this might be the key going forward.
 
Kill3r7

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It is probably more accurate to say third world countries will suffer greatly as we figure out how to deal with climate change.
 
Weiss

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I have a niece and nephew. I'm only going to in my 40s when shit hits the fan.

I wonder if we're ever going to fix this.
 
NSA

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I have to imagine this will impact certain countries more than others, right?
 
Kingpin Rogers

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What are the chances of some places enacting age limits or something where like when you hit 70 years old you're shipped off to a death pit or something? Not atm but if food really does start to get low it might look like an option to world higherups. Though I've gotta say 21 years is a very long time, we'll probably figure out a more elegant solution if it is actually a problem in the future.
 
Powdered Egg

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By that time, I will make sure I work for a private security firm then 5 months into the job betray whatever wealthy chump hires me.
 

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It seems crazy, but why do you think Trump wants to re-start the space race? Where do you think the rich will be when the shit hits the fan?

Nazis on the moon. That's a funny idea, right? ..... right?
 
B-Dubs

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Uhh, OP, there's no link to a full article.
 
Pau

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EvilChameleon said:
In addition to climate change, there are just too many people on the planet. It might be time for the UN to implement a two child policy like China used to, worldwide.
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There aren't too many people on the planet. There are too many people (particularly in countries like the United States) consuming a disproportionate amount of resources. The people using up the most resources are the ones who can and will circumvent any sort of population control measures.
 
Maximus

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A whole bunch of old people are in control and will be dead by the time shit starts to hit the fan, so they don't give a fuck. Society as a whole is too complacent to push for proactive change.
 
TaySan

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I think it will be incredibly selfish of me to bring a child in the world knowing the world is going to be hell in a basket within the next couple of decades. :/
 
MANUELF

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I guess this affects certain continents like África way more with the way their population is exploding
 
Curler

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What's actually sad is how much food waste goes on. We have a surplus of surplus of food right now. I never wanted to work in food industry jobs, due to waste and how much gets tossed out after a days' end, way before expiration, and not enough programs to give the surplus to workers/shelters/farms. It's something that has always bothered me. Grocery stores always way overstock (something about psychology of seeing more food makes it appear more "fresh", or at leadt more desirable to shop there), and so much of it ends up in landfills...
 
lt519

lt519

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Science alone is making rapid progress on more efficiently growing and farming crops while also creating genetic mutations that are more resistant to flooding, increasing shelf life through packaging, etc.

I agree with the sentiment, something needs to change, but don't base your entire argument on "if nothing changes."
 
teague

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Dec 17, 2018
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Curler said:
What's actually sad is how much food waste goes on. We have a surplus of surplus of food right now. I never wanted to work in food industry jobs, due to waste and how much gets tossed out after a days' end, way before expiration, and not enough programs to give the surplus to workers/shelters/farms. It's something that has always bothered me. Grocery stores always way overstock (something about psychology of seeing more food makes it appear more "fresh", or at leadt more desirable to shop there), and so much of it ends up in landfills...
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the problem with the global food surplus is you have to get it to places where people need it which often involves burning a lot of gas
 
Dekuman

Dekuman

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Pau said:
There aren't too many people on the planet. There are too many people (particularly in countries like the United States) consuming a disproportionate amount of resources. The people using up the most resources are the ones who can and will circumvent any sort of population control measures.
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To be fair population growth is low in the first world.
 
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