"The 2 Elephants in the Room"

In this article written by, Mark Bittman, he discusses a book called The Coming Famine by Julian Cribb. Bittman describes that Cribb addresses many of the same issues brought up in Tom Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded.
The Coming Famine is referring to the fact that overpopulation is becoming a larger and larger problem for our earth.

"Mr. Cribb is reporting on the fate of a planet whose resources have, in the last 200 years, been carelessly, even ruthlessly exploited for the benefit of the minority. Now that the majority is beginning to demand — or at least crave — the same kind of existence, it’s clear that, population boom or not, there simply isn’t enough of the Euro-American way of life to go around."

Another topic that Cribb brings up in his book is the issue of the world becoming more and more "flat," as Freidman would put it. The world becoming flat signifies the rise in the middle class which means there is higher demand for resources.

"Most important are what he calls “the two elephants in the kitchen”: population growth and overconsumption. A projected 33 percent growth in population in the next 20 years, combined with increased consumption of meat as the global middle class grows larger, means that food production must grow by at least 50 percent in that same period."

Both overpopulation and the rise in middle class is combining into one immensely huge crisis for the world.

At this point it seems that the world's situation can't be any worse until we remember the global warming problem. Bittman describes some of Cribb's explanations for how to become a more environmentally stable society in his book. One of them is:

"He proposes subsidizing small farms for their stewardship of the earth, and paying them fairer prices for production; taxing food to reflect its true costs to the environment; regulating practices that counter sustainability and rewarding those that promote it; and educating the public about the true costs of food. “An entire year of primary schooling” should be devoted to the importance of growing and eating food, he suggests."

Both Cribb and Freidman understand how and why our society is diminishing. Our world is becoming "Hot, Flat and Crowded."