The International Living publishing group deserves credit for this nice perspective on today's multi-faceted turmoil. What the author says about Mexico being a sanctuary from it goes even more for Nicaragua, the safest country in the region:
------------------------
"As
oil prices rise, the costs of food production, processing, and
transportation rise as well. Suddenly the connection between what we
eat and how it’s grown, packaged, and delivered becomes painfully real...The
number of mouths to feed on the planet keeps multiplying without check,
but corporate farmers are now eying the higher profit margins that come
from filling gas tanks instead of stomachs. After all, we desperately
need alternative fuels…look what the price of oil is doing to the cost
of food!"
What is Corporate Farming’s answer? Quit growing food all together...plant biofuel crops instead. After all what good is food if you can’t afford to drive your car to the store to get it?
As I write, food riots haven’t yet started in Asia, but parts of Africa and the Caribbean are already burning.
"I watch all this from my little corner of Mexico, where there hasn’t been a ripple yet, although everyone here is very sensitive to the price of corn. Corn is one of the Three Sisters of Latin American nutrition…the other two are beans and squash. When you put these three things together with some avocado, tomato, chili pepper, and a bit of chicken or goat, you have the basis for advanced civilization…the Three Sisters have made it possible for this part of the world to eat well despite largely marginal farmland since the time of the Maya Empire.
I don’t eat any more corn than I used to, but even if the price of corn goes to the moon, I figure I can still live here for about half what I lived on in the U.S. when I add up my savings on health care, electricity, and taxes. And since I live in a neighborhood with shops, stores, and restaurants, I can get almost everything I need within walking distance, so I’m not sweating the price of gas too much, either.
And spending less on all these things means I have more left to spend on food, at whatever price.
For me, this makes my little corner of Mexico the perfect place from which to watch the modern world’s ongoing crackup…the war in the Middle East, the U.S. presidential election soap opera, the meltdown of the global credit shell game…and the coming of the Thin New World."
------------------------
I love International Living. I get the dailys. I found your blog on Nuwire. We develop land on the Pacific Coast of Nica. We have a nice 36 acre project in the hilss out of San Juan. We also have a great 200 acre parcel in Northern Nicaragua. I will be in San Juan Sunday for two weeks. I love the name of your Company. I will check out your website.
We are at blog.coastaldreamsworldwide.com
Have a serene day.
Wes
Posted by: Wes Flacker | May 10, 2008 at 07:20 AM