Exerpts and a little commentary -

After explaining why we should expect energy costs to rise, Sean proposes that we "agree, for now, that energy prices, and particularly fossil fuels prices, will remain high into the foreseeable future." Then Sean writes about food issues --

"Petro-chemicals play a critical role in global agriculture. Higher energy costs translate directly into higher food prices. With every bite we take, we consume oil and gas. As well, the rush to bio-fuels is having the impact of diverting food energy away from empty bellies to empty tanks. That in turn helps to drive global food prices.

Don't take my word for it. Place the search terms 'food prices' into Google News and see for yourself.

It is not all due to higher energy prices, either. The same global forces at play in energy are also impacting food. The emerging Chinese and Indian middle-classes are demanding the same diets we enjoy as westerners. They are demanding more meat which requires more grains and more water.

Mark Bittman of the Dallas News, helpfully put it this way:

'To put the energy-using demand of meat production into easy-to-understand terms, [two geophysicists] calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent, it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan to a Prius.

Similarly, a study last year ... estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

Grain, meat and even energy are roped together in a way that could have dire results. More meat means a corresponding increase in demand for feed, especially corn and soy, which some experts say will contribute to higher prices.'

Let's not forget water. Clean, potable water is also becoming scarce at the same time ocean fisheries are nearing collapse not unlike the cod fishery in Canada.

None of this is news. These are trends that have been underway for decades.

For those who look to the Alberta tar sands and other heavy sands projects for salvation, think again." "The [energy] cost of extracting that oil is huge." (Sean then elaborates on that point.)

"If we can recognize we have reached the end of the carbon age, then we can also recognize that those global supply lines that currently bring mushrooms, garlic, apples, and a lot more from China to Canadian supermarkets can't be maintained indefinitely. Not at the same prices, anyway.

In the years to come, food will re-emerge as the most important commodity produced."