Cairo hurts for bread

Joey Sawyer 11:50 am march 28

According to an article earlier this month in Al Jazeera, the citizens of Cairo are having a very tough time getting their hands on some essential nutrients. Egypt is a huge importer of wheat, among other grains. Some people are waiting all day in bread lines just to get one loaf, others turn to violence in the streets. This sort of food shortage is being seen in many places that have to import certain basic food items because global climate change has decreased areas abilities to grow certain crops and food stockpiles are quickly being used up. The problem in Cairo is also that the Nile delta has become over populated and what once was fertile farmland is now rife with neighborhoods and slums. This has contributed to their reliance on imported food. This combined with the high prices of fuel make importing food especially expensive. Cairo has become very geographically unsustainable and the population is suffering the effects of being much too large. What I found interesting is now that they are in such dire conditions many people believe it is the job of the military to provide for them. If the people believe it is solely the government's responsibility to feed them, but the government does not have the means to do so, then this country could be at a great risk of large scale upheavals against the government. There have already been a few riots, but this could get much worse. People fight to survive like any other animal, but we have become very good at killing. Mother Nature has its own way to force its inhabitants to be sustainable, and we can only go behind her back for so long feeding these areas before she finds another way to stop us. What happens when we can't help? what happens when these people can no longer get food? We see death on the human scale, but on the broader scale we see balance.