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Since 1990, when the number of people living in extreme poverty peaked at 1.9 billion, we have been on the steady march towards eradicating extreme poverty. Des

Since 1990, when the number of people living in extreme poverty peaked at 1.9 billion, we have been on the steady march towards eradicating extreme poverty. Despite the fact that there are almost 6 billion more people alive today than at the turn of last century, the number of people living in extreme poverty has reduced from 1.3 billion to 730 million [1]. Despite its flaws, the Green revolution and the modern system of agriculture has saved billions of people from starvation. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty#the-number-of-people-in-extreme-poverty-over-the-past-two-centuries https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty#the-number-of-peo...

TaylorAlexander 5y ago
It's a popular narrative, but one that Jason Hickel argues falls short. He disputes the poverty thresholds used in these calculations as far too low - $1.90 per day today is lower than the consumption of 19th century US slaves, he argues: https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2021/3/28/extreme-poverty-isnt-natural-it-is-created https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2021/3/28/extreme-poverty-i... As far as the Green Revolution, again this story that is has saved millions from starvation is a popular one. But we can look at Vandana Shiva for example who says it became a way for multinational corporations to take over the farms and food systems of India, leading to mass farmer suicides, erosion of the soil, and poisoning the land: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/3/30/seeds-of-suicide-and-slavery-versus-seeds-of-life-and-freedom https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/3/30/seeds-of-suicid...