Date of Award

1975

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Chemistry

First Reader

Dr. Joe Jeffers

Abstract

In one of the most astonishing assessments of the world food situations yet delivered, five scientists told the House Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment that the World Food Conference had failed to come to grips with the underlying causes of the present food crisis. They declared that the United States had already begun a policy of triage, deciding which people shall live and which shall starve on the basis of political considerations.

University of Wisconsin ecologist Grant Cottam, said that the delegates had failed to face the possibility that the world's "carrying capacity" may have already been exceeded. "In recent year," he explains, "we have managed to survive without serious famine only because of the presence of large food reserve ... with no reserves left, there is no way we can avoid massive famines. The earth simply cannot continue to support an exponential population growth." He estimates the food shortage this year will be equal to the needs of 130 million people.

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