Society will collapse in three decades due to food shortages, study says


A model developed by Anglia Ruskin University's Global Sustainability Institute and supported by the British government's Foreign Office projects that society will collapse by 2040 due to catastrophic food shortages. Dr. Aled Jones of Anglia Ruskin GSI explains:
We ran the model forward to the year 2040, along a business-as-usual trajectory based on 'do-nothing' trends — that is, without any feedback loops that would change the underlying trend. The results show that based on plausible climate trends, and a total failure to change course, the global food supply system would face catastrophic losses, and an unprecedented epidemic of food riots. In this scenario, global society essentially collapses as food production falls permanently short of consumption. [Insurge Intellegence]
Pretty bleak.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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