In The Weekend Australian (July 1-2, 1995, p. 26),
Julian Cribb (that paper’s science and technology writer) had
an article entitled ‘Grow or Die’.

Subhead: ‘Every night 800 million people around the
world go to bed hungry. As grain supply falls to its lowest ever
level, international neglect means the most critical issue now
facing humanity is how we will feed ourselves.’

Excerpts:

* Next year, the world’s food stocks will fall to
53 days’ supply – more than a week short of the amount that prompted
warnings of a global food crisis in the 1960s

* Of the world’s 1.1 billion poor and malnourished,
60% live in Asia

* A billion people earn less than a dollar a day

* 800m go to bed hungry

* 200m preschool children are malnourished

* We must find the means to grow 800m tonnes more
grain and 16m tonnes more fish by 2020 – or a quarter of humanity
will starve

A question, and a suggestion:

Q: Why don’t I read many posts on this group about
this aweful state of affairs?

A suggestion: As the old ‘spiritual’ says, we’d better
get ready… On judgment day we won’t be asked ‘Did you receive
Jesus as your personal Lord and saviour?’ (a phrase that’s not
in the Bible), but: ‘When I was hungry, what did you do about
it?’

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher