Drought—Lethal Accelerant
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Among the causes of famine is drought. Perhaps none is larger. Without water, crops languish and food production grinds to a halt.
While the nations of the West have not experienced the plague of drought in life-threatening levels in recent years, this longstanding accelerant to famine will re-emerge. Extreme—devastating!—drought is long overdue. More than just a fact of science, God actually promises such drought among His many forms of punishment. Let’s read: “I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass” (Lev. 26:19).
Understand. “Iron” heavens produce no rain, and “brass” earth is the result. I know. I have dug many postholes in severely drought-hardened ground where even a power auger would not penetrate the earth with my full weight on it—and I am a big man.
Amos 4:9 adds this: “I [God] have smitten you with blasting and mildew: [and also] when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have you not returned unto Me, says the Lord.” Notice that blasting (hot, dry winds) and mildew (too much rain) are both mentioned. These opposite extremes produce the same thing—low crop yield and famine. So do worms eating plants.
The impact of drought in just the twentieth century—only part of the run-up to awful droughts soon to canvas the earth—is important to contemplate. 1930s America saw a near 10-year drought with effects reaching across a staggering 65 percent of the United States. During this same time, drought in China claimed 5 million people—just in 1936! Consider a single day during this decade-long period: On April 14, 1935, referred to as “Black Sunday,” a massive dust storm more than 8,000 feet high engulfed the entire lower Midwestern United States—from Kansas to Texas—with winds exceeding 70 mph.
Such storms accompanying drought can produce mile-high “black blizzards,” which are truly terrifying to behold. The debris and silica particles in the air stirred up by these storms—invariably inhaled by human beings—can cause several serious lung diseases.
Pollution, overwatering, misuse of the land and sin will give rise to catastrophe of epic proportion. Drought—paling America’s “Dust Bowl” years into near insignificance—lies just over the horizon!
God says this, not I.
Global Water Shortage
Everything in this chapter so far has spoken to lack of food. But water shortages of colossal proportion are also on the way. Crumbling water systems in Western nations, coupled with global pollution and increasing drought, will lead to widespread thirst alongside hunger.
Understand that just 2.5 percent of the earth’s water is fresh. Only 20 percent of this (or 0.5 percent!) is accessible ground or surface water. Current population needs consume over half of this available water. By 2025, water use is expected to rise by 50 percent in developing countries, and 18 percent in other areas. As the earth grows by 77 million people per year, an additional amount of water equivalent to the mighty Rhine River is required each year.
Also, developing countries dump up to 90-95 percent of their sewage, untreated, and 70 percent of all industrial waste into surface waters. Population growth guarantees this problem will only grow worse. In addition, chemical runoff from fertilizers, pesticides, and acid rain sufficiently ruin water quality to make it unusable. Some experts predict the world will also completely run out of usable drinking water by 2050.
Trends indicate that most of the world will soon be thirsty. Water wars have already long been the subject of various legal fights between states and countries. This will grow much worse!
First World Food Supplies
To increase profit margins, industrialized nations have made food delivery into a science. Grocery stores and many restaurants rely on “just in time” delivery, meaning they keep a low stock on hand and rely on regular shipments of products. If these shipments are delayed—even by just a few days—the shelves empty out. In turn, the customer must go without.
This principle was seen in living color when ash from an Icelandic volcano hung over Europe, causing a continent-wide flight ban in April 2010. On top of air travelers being stranded, there was another troubling problem.
During that time, the Guardian reported, “Britain’s supermarkets could soon run short of perishable goods including exotic fruits and Kenyan roses as the ongoing ban on UK air travel brought Britain’s largest perishable air freight handling centre to a standstill…”
Realize that this airline disruption lasted just under a week. What if it continued?
Many First World nations are consistently producing and exporting less grains and vegetables, while they are increasing imports of such products. This leaves them wide open to massive food shortage if their suppliers fail to deliver.
For example, the United Kingdom imports about 90 percent of its fruit and 60percent of its vegetables. Their fresh produce comes from all across the globe: broccoli and strawberries from Spain, apples from the United States, grapes from Egypt, carrots from South Africa, tomatoes from Saudi Arabia, asparagus from Peru, bananas from India, but also meat such as lamb from New Zealand.
For potatoes, England mostly looks to Israel. The British Potato Council reports that the UK imports over 385,000 tons of potatoes per year (Guardian).
Where would Britain be without regular shipments of fresh food? And this is just one wealthy nation—there are many others in the same position, some much larger.
Famine in just one part of the world, whether the Middle East, Africa, South America or elsewhere, can automatically mean shortages in many First World nations. The increasingly interconnected global economy means an increasingly fragile food supply. This fragility will become more obvious with each passing “incident.”
Growing Global Crisis
Famine has been steadily spreading and worsening for years. Recently, the worst contributing factor has been the continued international financial downturn. Wealthy nations are no longer able to support impoverished peoples financially.
After the 2008 Cyclone Nargis disaster in Myanmar, the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and USAID Administrator at the time, Henrietta Holsman Fore, said, “We are in the midst of a global food crisis unlike other food crises we have faced, one not caused simply by natural disasters, conflict or any single event such as drought. It is not localized—but pervasive and widespread, affecting the poor in developing nations around the world.”
Understand. The financial crisis has brought us to the brink of pervasive, widespreadfamine!
The World Food Programme, also in 2008, said global increases in food prices were creating “the biggest challenge” it has faced in the organization’s 45-year history—what the organization termed “a silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger.”
Ms. Fore pointed out that the international food price index rose 43 percent in 2007, immediately affecting the world’s poor. “For the poorest one billion, living on just a dollar per day, very high food prices mean stark choices between taking a sick child to the clinic, paying school fees, or putting food on the table.”
USAID estimates that of the world population one billion people subsist on less than a dollar per day. Of these, 162 million live on less than a tiny 50 cents per day. These households are generally spending 50 to 60 percent of their income on food, compared to less than one-fifth in nations such as the United States.
Remember what is coming: “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny” (Rev. 6:6).
Meeting with the British government in April 2008, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran described the millions now priced out of the food market as “the new face of hunger.” Price increases from the global economic collapse have left millions in urban areas around the world hungry, unable to afford the rising cost of groceries.
As the economic crisis worsened, the World Food Programme announced a $500 million deficit in its budget in February 2008, and urged wealthy nations to increase contributions. Two months later, Ms. Sheeran announced that the gap had risen to $755 million. At that time, she said the WFP was “putting out an urgent appeal for the world to help us meet not only our base budget to meet the accessed needs of people from Darfur to Uganda to Haiti and beyond, but also to meet this gap.”
In July of 2009, the situation grew even more dire. Ms. Sheeran said that the WFP’s “assessed approved needs” were $6.7 billion for the year. After discussions with governments, the agency received only $3.7 billion in donations—a $3 billion budget deficit!
Clearly, this is a “crisis unlike other food crises.” Something on this scale has never been seen before. This is the makings of global famine!
For now, though, it seems there is only one solution—throw money at the problem. Yet this is money that governments—ever more frequently—no longer have.
Depleted Grain Supplies --- Back to 1The Bible’s Greatest Prophecies Unlocked!