Nation's Cities - May 16, 2011

2 NATION’S CITIES WEEKLY
May 16, 2011

COLUMNIST
Fewer Steaks, Protected Land: Prince Charles’ Rx for America

by Neal Peirce
If millions of Americans con-
tinue the illusion that climate
change isn’t real, how about
food? Are we ready to face the
clear danger of precipitous price
increases, both short-term and
long-term, linked to global scar-
cities?

Prince Charles cited United Nations figures projecting the
demand for food worldwide to rise an “astonishing” 70
percent between now and 2050.
granted for so long,” he said,
noting: “For every pound of
beef produced in the industrial
system, it takes 2,000 gallons of
water.”
Presently, Americans eat
four times the average beef con-
sumed worldwide. But with
incomes rising in such nations
as India and China, the problem
is becoming global in scope.
Prince Charles cited United
Nations figures projecting the
demand for food worldwide to
rise an “astonishing” 70 per-
cent between now and 2050.
And with global population still
growing rapidly — to a just-
revised U.N. estimate of 9.3 bil-
lion humans at mid-century —
there are 219,000 new mouths
to feed every day.
Another warning sign,
Charles noted: “In the United
States, soil is being washed away
10 times faster than the Earth
can replenish it.” Deplenished
soils and fertility are also a
growing global concern.
The prince is hardly alone
in raising food-front alarms.
Another articulate critic: Eric
Schlosser, author of “Fast Food
Nation.” In an article written
for “The Washington Post” days
before Charles’ visit, Schlosser
condemned America’s current
food system as “overly central-
ized and industrialized, overly
controlled by a handful of com-
panies, overly reliant on mono-
cultures, pesticides, chemical
fertilizers, chemical additives ...
factory farms, government sub-
sidies and fossil fuels.”
Schlosser blames the same
food industry for the fat- and
sugar-heavy food products that
have triggered alarming obesity
rates. “As upper-middle-class
consumers increasingly seek
out healthier foods,” asserts
Schlosser, “fast-food chains are
targeting low-income minor-
ity communities — much like
tobacco companies did when
wealthy and well-educated peo-
ple began to quit smoking.”
The same week brought
alarming news on the interac-
tion of climate change and food
supply.

Neal Peirce’s e-mail address is
nrp@citistates.com.
© 2011, The Washington
Post Writers Group
The opinions expressed in this
column are not necessarily those of
the National League of Cities or
Nation’s Cities Weekly.
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Nation’s Cities Weekly
Volume 34 Number 19 | ISSN 0164-5935 | May 16, 2011

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