DOCSLIB.ORG

The Green Revolution Did Not Increase Poverty and Hunger for Millions

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Green Revolution Did Not Increase Poverty and Hunger for Millions correspondence The Green Revolution did not increase poverty and hunger for millions To the editor — In the June 2018 issue China that embraced Green Revolution dismiss the important contributions made of Nature Plants, Associate Editor Ryan advances in farm mechanization and made by agricultural scientists and researchers Scarrow, in a book review entitled ‘Botanical significant public-sector investments in in the past. A more progressive view is to Imperialism’ erroneously regurgitates the irrigation and crop improvement. For champion the adoption of Green Revolution myth that the Green Revolution “increased instance, in developing countries, yields measures, such as renewed public-sector hunger and poverty for millions while of staples as diverse as wheat, rice, potato support for crop improvement, while protecting and increasing crop exports for and cassava increased by 36–208% (ref. 2). also addressing the equally important, global markets”1. These increases are also associated with the and now better-studied, environmental There are several sources of data adoption of Green-Revolution-improved impacts of agricultural intensification. We (the World Bank and the UN Food and crop varieties, beginning in Asia (82% must not forget that, but for the Green Agriculture Organisation, among others) adoption in 1998) and then later in sub- Revolution, millions of our fellow humans that give lie to this claim, most prominently Saharan Africa (70% adoption by 2005)2. In from the Global South would simply not compiled into visual representations by terms of environmental benefits, it has also be alive today. More fundamentally, while the online publication, Our World in Data been shown that the Green Revolution saved we navigate the challenges of ensuring (www.ourworldindata.org) by researchers 18–27 million hectares of forested land and sustainable food security over the next at the University of Oxford. The data clearly pasture from being converted to farmland, fifty years, it is important to be guided by show that the share of world population much of it in the developing world3. an honest evaluation of the facts, and the living in extreme poverty fell sharply Clearly, the Green Revolution played successes and failures of the past. ❐ during the years of the Green Revolution, an enormous role in raising livelihoods previously defined as 1966–1985 (ref. 2). and providing greater food security in Devang Mehta Data from the Food and Agriculture the developing world. It vividly exploded Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Department of Organisation (FAO) also shows that the the Malthusian fears promulgated by Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, same period saw an almost identical increase Paul Ehrlich’s, The Population Bomb and Alberta, Canada. in per person calorie supply in poor and the Paddock brothers’ Famine-1975! It e-mail: [email protected] wealthy countries. Thus, it is hard to accept is true that the advances of the Green the argument that the Green Revolution Revolution failed to manifest in parts Published online: 4 October 2018 caused an increase in poverty and hunger of the globe, particularly on the African https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-018-0240-8 when the aggregate data clearly shows that continent; this does not mean however there was no such increase in poverty and that it was the cause of poverty and hunger References hunger in the countries that adopted Green in these areas. Furthermore, while the 1. Scarrow, R. Nat. Plants 4, 316 (2018). 2. Pingali, P. L. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 12302–12308 (2012). Revolution advances. evidence also suggests that gains due 3. Stevenson, J. R., Villoria, N., Byerlee, D., Kelley, T. & Maredia, M. The Green Revolution also saw to the Green Revolution were limited Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 8363–8368 (2013). impressive gains in yields of staple food in marginal agricultural environments, crops like wheat and rice, even in large and that the reductions in poverty were Competing interests developing countries like India and unequally distributed, it is wrong to The author declares no competing interests. 736 NATURE PLANTS | VOL 4 | OCTOBER 2018 | 736 | www.nature.com/natureplants.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Why Did China's Population Grow So Quickly?
    SUBSCRIBE NOW AND RECEIVE CRISIS AND LEVIATHAN* FREE! “The Independent Review does not accept “The Independent Review is pronouncements of government officials nor the excellent.” conventional wisdom at face value.” —GARY BECKER, Noble Laureate —JOHN R. MACARTHUR, Publisher, Harper’s in Economic Sciences Subscribe to The Independent Review and receive a free book of your choice* such as the 25th Anniversary Edition of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, by Founding Editor Robert Higgs. This quarterly journal, guided by co-editors Christopher J. Coyne, and Michael C. Munger, and Robert M. Whaples offers leading-edge insights on today’s most critical issues in economics, healthcare, education, law, history, political science, philosophy, and sociology. Thought-provoking and educational, The Independent Review is blazing the way toward informed debate! Student? Educator? Journalist? Business or civic leader? Engaged citizen? This journal is for YOU! *Order today for more FREE book options Perfect for students or anyone on the go! The Independent Review is available on mobile devices or tablets: iOS devices, Amazon Kindle Fire, or Android through Magzter. INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE, 100 SWAN WAY, OAKLAND, CA 94621 • 800-927-8733 • [email protected] PROMO CODE IRA1703 Why Did China’s Population Grow so Quickly? F DAVID HOWDEN AND YANG ZHOU hina’s one-child policy has come to be widely regarded as an effective piece of government legislation that saved the country from a Malthusian fate. C The Cultural Revolution of 1966–76 was the crowning achievement of Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) from 1945 to 1976.
    [Show full text]
  • Solving the Human Predicament
    InteRnational Journal of Environmental STudieS, Vol. 69, No.4, August 2012, 557-565 Solving the human predicament PAUL R. EHRLICH* AND ANNE H. EHRLICH Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA The authors offer an ecological frame of reference for political action to change the economic and social trends now deepening the human predicament: overpopulation and continuing population growth, overconsumption by rich societies, resource depletion, environmental degradation, and inequitable distribution of wealth within and between societies. Certain points often overlooked include: the demographic contribution to environmental deterioration; climate disruption, global toxification, and a decay of biodiversity and ecosystem services; and economic growth of the rich, which hurts everyone in the long term. Perpetual economic growth is biophysically impossible; the culture gap impedes solutions; and all the factors are intertwined. Potential solutions include: empowering women and providing family planning services to all sexually active people; reducing overconsumption and helping the poor; overhauling education systems, including universities; adapting to changes that are inevitable; and improving food production and distribution systems. Hope comes from growing worldwide grassroots movements. KeYwords: Overpopulation; Excess consumption; Environmental deterioration; Economic growth; Culture gap; Empowerment of women Introduction Civilisation has reached a scale at which it has begun to influence dramatically the cru-
    [Show full text]
  • The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble Over Earth’S Future
    23-215-MILLER_FINAL 5.13.14 5/13/2014 12:40 PM THE BET: PAUL EHRLICH, JULIAN SIMON, AND OUR GAMBLE OVER EARTH’S FUTURE By Paul Sabin, Yale University Press 2013 Reviewed by Richard B. Miller* It seems a matter of common sense that infinite resources do not exist, and we should, therefore, use our resources carefully. But it is a mistake to understate the impact of human ingenuity and market economics on the demand for resources we are inclined to think of as essential. This more complex truth was well understood by the Saudi Arabian oil minister, Sheikh Zaki Yamani, who famously stated that “[the] Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil.”1 The story of this more complex truth about resource scarcity and its relationship to the modern environmental movement is well told by Paul Sabin in The Bet.2 The Bet has lessons for today’s debate over climate change and should serve as a cautionary tale for activists on either side. The Bet recounts the rivalry between Paul Ehrlich, the biologist who wrote The Population Bomb3 in 1968, and Julian Simon, an economist who wrote The Ultimate Resource4 in 1981. Ehrlich warned of the dangers of overpopulation and the destruction of the planet while Simon celebrated population growth and the ingenuity that enables humans to adapt to changing circumstances. Ehrlich relied on the simple logic that resources are finite, claiming that increased population would lead to mass starvation. Notwithstanding his doomsday message, he was immensely popular
    [Show full text]
  • Ethical Implications of Population Growth and Reduction Tiana Sepahpour [email protected]
    Fordham University Masthead Logo DigitalResearch@Fordham Student Theses 2015-Present Environmental Studies Spring 5-10-2019 Ethical Implications of Population Growth and Reduction Tiana Sepahpour [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fordham.bepress.com/environ_2015 Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Natural Resources and Conservation Commons Recommended Citation Sepahpour, Tiana, "Ethical Implications of Population Growth and Reduction" (2019). Student Theses 2015-Present. 75. https://fordham.bepress.com/environ_2015/75 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Environmental Studies at DigitalResearch@Fordham. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Theses 2015-Present by an authorized administrator of DigitalResearch@Fordham. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ethical Implications of Population Growth and Reduction Tiana Sepahpour Fordham University Department of Environmental Studies and Philosophy May 2019 Abstract This thesis addresses the ethical dimensions of the overuse of the Earth’s ecosystem services and how human population growth exacerbates it, necessitating an ethically motivated reduction in ​ human population size by means of changes in population policy. This policy change serves the ​ goal of reducing the overall global population as the most effective means to alleviate global issues of climate change and resource abuse. Chapter 1 draws on the United Nations’ Millennium ​ Ecosystem Assessment and other sources to document the human overuse and degradation of ​ ecosystem services, including energy resources. Chapter 2 explores the history of energy consumption and climate change. Chapter 3 examines the economic impact of reducing populations and how healthcare and retirement plans would be impacted by a decrease in a working population.
    [Show full text]
  • The Skeptical Environmentalist the Environmentalist Litany Mentalist Movement, However, in Its Claim That the Situation Is Growing Worse
    Economic Note January 2004 Improvement of the World Environment: The Skeptical Environmentalist The Environmentalist Litany mentalist movement, however, in its claim that the situation is growing worse. By almost every meas- During the past generation, a large environmental- urable standard, he claims, the world is becoming ist movement has emerged committed to showing a better place. He takes issue with the Litany as fol- that the world is a bad place and is growing pro- lows: gressively worse. This movement is headed by indi- viduals such as Paul Ehrlich and David Pimental, That world population is increasing and by organisations such as the World Wide Fund exponentially for Nature, Greenpeace, Worldwatch, and many others. In 1750, world population was about one billion. By 1999, it had reached six billion. The main growth Bjørn Lomborg is an Associate Professor of began around 1950. Statistics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. He is vege- This growth of population had led to a revival of the tarian who rides a bicycle and approves of big old Malthusian claim that population increases taxes in Denmark on cars and petrol. He is also an exponentially while the capacity to support it grown environmentalist and is concerned about world only arithmetically. On this reasoning, population poverty. In 1997, he visited California. While will continue to grow until average living standards browsing in a bookshop there, he came across a have fallen to bare subsistence level, and will then profile in Wired magazine of the anti-environmen- be checked by mass starvation and by pandemic talist economist Julian Simons, who claimed that diseases.
    [Show full text]
  • Overpopulation– the Modern Denial
    CHAPTER 2 Overpopulation– the modern denial The word overpopulation was brought into the modern pub- lic consciousness in 1968 by a book called The Population Bomb written by Paul Ehrlich. The book was a warning to the world that the human population was a ticking time bomb about to explode. The book badly missed the mark with its predictions of resource shortages and famine. For example, Ehrlich predicted that four billion people would starve to death in the 1980s. Based on that prediction, he also called for some highly unpopular measures to reduce our population growth. To ice the cake, he made a bet with an economist named Julian Simon about the price of five metals over a ten-year period. Ehrlich said the price would go up as a result of dwindling resources and Simon said the price would drop. The price dropped. Ehrlich paid up. W hy Ehrlich thought that new sources for those metals would not be found or that manufacturers would not make compromises to compensate for shortages is beyond me. As an engineer at Boe- ing, I often altered a design to use high strength aluminum instead of titanium because the cost of titanium was too high. At one time, most sources of titanium were in the Soviet Union. W e used titanium extensively after the fall of the Berlin wall. I recently met Paul Ehrlich at a signing for his latest book One with Nineveh. I listened to him speak for an hour. He is an impressive figure, tall, vigorous, with a deep voice and a tre- mendous sense of humor.
    [Show full text]
  • The One Child Policy: a Moral Analysis of China's Most Extreme
    DePauw University Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University Student research Student Work 4-2020 The One Child Policy: A Moral Analysis of China’s Most Extreme Population Policy Allison C. Lund DePauw University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearch Part of the Applied Ethics Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, and the Social Policy Commons Recommended Citation Lund, Allison C., "The One Child Policy: A Moral Analysis of China’s Most Extreme Population Policy" (2020). Student research. 148. https://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearch/148 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student research by an authorized administrator of Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The One Child Policy: A Moral Analysis of China’s Most Extreme Population Policy Allison C. Lund Sponsor: Jennifer Everett, Ph.D. Thesis Committee: Sherry Mou, Ph.D. Rebecca Upton, Ph.D. M.P.H DePauw University Honor Scholar Program Class of 2020 Acknowledgment I would like to thank the influential women who supported and inspired me throughout this process of researching and writing. Having a strong group of women supporting me through this journey of the exploration of the One Child Policy has been a unique and enriching experience that I will carry with me into the next phase of my life. This is the most challenging project I have taken on in my undergraduate career and I am incredibly thankful for the women who made it possible for me to complete it.
    [Show full text]
  • Eklanche 1.Pdf
    Prediction and Control: Global Population, Population Science, and Population Politics in the Twentieth Century by Emily R. Merchant A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in the University of Michigan 2015 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor John Carson, Chair Professor Barbara A. Anderson Professor Howard Brick Professor Paul N. Edwards Acknowledgements In many ways, this dissertation was a joy to write. I found the topic fascinating when I began writing and it continues to fascinate me today. Going to the archives shaped the story in ways that I did not expect when I wrote the prospectus but that only deepened my interest in and commitment to this project. The enthusiasm of my advisors, research subjects, and interlocutors helped keep my own enthusiasm for the project high, even through difficult and frustrating moments in the archives and while writing. I could not have written this dissertation without the assistance and support of many people and organizations. The seeds of this dissertation were sown in Barbara Anderson's demographic theory and methods courses in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan, which I attended in 2008-2009 at the urging of Myron Gutmann. Myron Gut- mann and Barbara Anderson encouraged my critical interest in the history of demography, and this encouragement eventually led me back to the Department of History at the Uni- versity of Michigan, which I had left after earning my M.A. in 2005. I am grateful to John Carson for agreeing to be my advisor at our very first meeting, and to Kali Israel, Farina Mir, Nancy Hunt, and Gabrielle Hecht, who helped me successfully petition for re-admission to the Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Overpopulation and the Impact on the Environment
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2017 Overpopulation and the Impact on the Environment Doris Baus The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1906 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] OVERPOPULATION AND THE IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT by DORIS BAUS A master's thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York 2017 © 2017 DORIS BAUS All Rights Reserved ii Overpopulation and the Impact on the Environment by Doris Baus This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in satisfaction of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. ____________________ ____________________________________________ Date Sophia Perdikaris Thesis Advisor ____________________ ___________________________________________ Date Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis Acting Executive Officer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Overpopulation and the Impact on the Environment by Doris Baus Advisor: Sophia Perdikaris In this research paper, the main focus is on the issue of overpopulation and its impact on the environment. The growing size of the global population is not an issue that appeared within the past couple of decades, but its origins come from the prehistoric time and extend to the very present day.
    [Show full text]
  • The Population Bomb Is Back – with a Global Warming Twist
    features The Population Bomb is Back – with a Global Warming Twist by Betsy Hartmann and Elizabeth Barajas-Román Not On My Body. Women are now being blamed for the environmental stress around them, particularly with their exercise of sexuality and reproduction. Yet there are so much beyond women’s bodies that need to be held accountable. Neolibralism, militarisation and nuclear energy, among many others have far more to explain. Photo by David Blumenkrantz. Hunger, poverty, environmental Population pundits and advocacy degradation and violent conflict are groups claim that overpopulation is the main cause of global warming, that only massive just some ills that the elites have investments in family planning will save the blamed on the poor since the days of planet. This argument threatens to derail 18th century social scientist Thomas climate negotiations and turn back the clock on reproductive rights and health. It is time Malthus. Now the list includes for women’s movements to defuse the climate change. population bomb – again. 70 Features No.2, 2009 WOMEN IN ACTION (Re)Telling Tale Authored by Paul R. Ehrlich in 1968, The Population Bomb asserted that there would be famine in the years to come unless population growth is abated. The book was a hit as more than two million copies were sold but it was criticised for its sweeping predictions. Forty years later, Ehrlich admitted that the title of the book can indeed be misleading. He likewise acknowledged that he underestimated the impact of the green revolution. He maintained though that the general conclusions of the book remain valid to this day.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Population Bomb: the Four Megatrends That Will Change the World Author(S): Jack A
    The New Population Bomb: The Four Megatrends That Will Change the World Author(s): Jack A. Goldstone Source: Foreign Affairs, Vol. 89, No. 1 (January/February 2010), pp. 31-43 Published by: Council on Foreign Relations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20699781 Accessed: 04-10-2017 09:14 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Foreign Affairs This content downloaded from 193.61.13.36 on Wed, 04 Oct 2017 09:14:43 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The New Population Bomb The Four Megatrends That Will Change the World Jack A. Goldstone Forty-two years ago, the biologist Paul Ehrlich warned in The Population Bomb that mass starvation would strike in the 1970s and 1980s, with the world's population growth outpacing the production of food and other critical resources. Thanks to innovations and efforts such as the "green revolution' in farming and the widespread adoption of family planning, Ehrlich s worst fears did not come to pass. In fact, since the 1970s, global economic output has increased and fertility has fallen dramatically, especially in developing countries.
    [Show full text]
  • EWT Perspective on Human Population and Development
    Perspective on Human Population and the Environment PURPOSE OF THIS STATEMENT The purpose of this statement is to inform stakeholders, partners and members of the public on the EWT’s perspective on human population and development as it relates to biodiversity and our environment. BACKGROUND The global human population is now more than 7.5 billion people. The United Nations estimates that this number will be nearly 9.8 billion by 2050 – this is 30% higher than it is today. Africa’s population is set to double over the same period, increasing at a rate that is 1.5 times the global average. It took until the early 1800s for the world’s population to reach one billion. Even with technological advancements, the Earth’s natural resources cannot support the growing needs of this number of human beings without degrading both the quality of human life and the environment on which we all depend. Ten thousand years ago, humans made up 1% of the weight of vertebrate land animals: the remainder of the biomass on earth was all wild animals. Today, wild animals make up just 1%, with the other 99% comprising humans, our farmed livestock and our pets (Smil, 2011). This imbalance poses concerns for the sustainability of many life forms on earth, and is a risk to the quality of life for much of humanity if left unaddressed. The EWT believes that intergovernmental agencies, governments, and non-governmental environment and development organisations, need to work together more effectively and holistically to address the key drivers of population growth.
    [Show full text]