Rethinking food crisis solutions 15 Apr 08

Comment

Comment by Brian V on June 17, 2008 at 12:11pm

Hi Cindy. Great video. In my humble opinion, I think this one gets at the heart of the problem: business as usual isn't working. Biofuels won't solve our fuel supply problems just as biotechnology won't solve food supply problems (even though supply isn't the main problem anyways). Fundamentally our problems aren't technological, they're (among other things) spiritual, social, and cultural. I'm often reminded of Wendell Berry's (cynical) comment: "The smartest and most educated people are the scientists, for they have already found solutions to all our problems and will soon find solutions to all the problems resulting from the their solutions to all the problems we used to have." No offense to those in such professions (I spent ten years in industrial automation) but the need to look beyond technological (or economic) solutions certainly becomes apparent when we look at history and issues like biofuels and biotechnology. Perhaps a form of simplicity -- also alluded to in the video -- is the most viable approach to resolving a number of our social and environmental problems.