6 ms·

I think your data is a little old. The undernourished, defined as fewer than 1800 calories per day, has steadily declined from 2000 until 2019, and then risen

I think your data is a little old. The undernourished, defined as fewer than 1800 calories per day, has steadily declined from 2000 until 2019, and then risen very slightly as a result of Covid. There's about 660 million that meet this threshold. Global malnutrition really has gotten significantly better over the past few decades. https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment

luis_cho 4y ago
Sadly we will know in the next years how fragile is the current food production system. High centralised food system based mainly on fossil fuels gives high yields until it doesn't. Every time I listen to Steven Pinker I think that he would learn a lot with Nassim Taleb books.
- madacol 4y ago
  What do food systems have to do with fossil fuels?
  - thereisnospork 4y ago
    Fertilizer production uses a great deal of natural gas. The claims of fragility are unfounded though as natural gas supply isn't going anywhere and the use of natural gas in the process could be trivially (at great expense) replaced entirely by [nuclear powered] water electrolysis. We also grossly overproduce calories, both as a policy decision for anti-fragility and for raising meat. Both of which leave a lot of slack before starvation levels kick in. At least in the US, other countries may be closer to the limit.
  - heavyset_go 4y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process#Sources_of_hydrogen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process#Sources_of_hydro...
  - jacobolus 4y ago
    Food production uses fertilizers (from fossil fuels) and pesticides (from fossil fuels) and machinery (running on fossil fuels) to grow foods which are then processed (by machines running on fossil fuels) and shipped around the world (using fossil fuels).
    - madacol 4y ago
      Sure, energy. I just don't get the point. We are talking about long-run trends of food insecurity. Russia's invasion of Ukraine will probably be (and hopefully) a short temporary turn in the wrong direction

luis_cho 4y ago

Sadly we will know in the next years how fragile is the current food production system. High centralised food system based mainly on fossil fuels gives high yields until it doesn't. Every time I listen to Steven Pinker I think that he would learn a lot with Nassim Taleb books.

madacol 4y ago
What do food systems have to do with fossil fuels?
- thereisnospork 4y ago
  Fertilizer production uses a great deal of natural gas. The claims of fragility are unfounded though as natural gas supply isn't going anywhere and the use of natural gas in the process could be trivially (at great expense) replaced entirely by [nuclear powered] water electrolysis. We also grossly overproduce calories, both as a policy decision for anti-fragility and for raising meat. Both of which leave a lot of slack before starvation levels kick in. At least in the US, other countries may be closer to the limit.
- heavyset_go 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process#Sources_of_hydrogen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process#Sources_of_hydro...
- jacobolus 4y ago
  Food production uses fertilizers (from fossil fuels) and pesticides (from fossil fuels) and machinery (running on fossil fuels) to grow foods which are then processed (by machines running on fossil fuels) and shipped around the world (using fossil fuels).
  - madacol 4y ago
    Sure, energy. I just don't get the point. We are talking about long-run trends of food insecurity. Russia's invasion of Ukraine will probably be (and hopefully) a short temporary turn in the wrong direction