I suspect that by averting famine in the latter half of the 20th century, we simply kicked the can down the road another half century or so. Exactly the way famine in the first half of the 20th century was averted, for a while, by the invention of chemical fertilizer.

If we can get the world's standard of living up enough so they stop breeding like rabbits, though, then yes, Mission Accomplished.

Except that on our current tack, the resource consumption required to make that happen will antrhopogenically alter the climate and bring about yet another crisis. I won't be surprised if the cure is worse than the disease.

There was a man named Harry Chapin-- a unapologetic lib if there ever was one and eventually a famous folk singer, but back then he came across as a film maker. He came to my area around 1969 and spent a couple days researching for a documentary. Bright guy. He did alot to help fight world hunger too. He had an idea about gettin all those famous musicians of the time together for a big concert to fight hunger. He wanted the rock and roll people there and even some musicians the more conservative folks might enjoy. He had that idea back then. That eventually happened in the 80s, didn't it? He's been dead now for about thirty years.

I suspect that by averting famine in the latter half of the 20th century, we simply kicked the can down the road another half century or so.

Ain't that the truth. I was stunned when I read an article not that long ago that these hybrids have a voracious appetite for nutrients. Soil quality and water are depleting rapidly where they are used.

As long as I'm in the ground I don't care if their is a famine that kills everybody after I die.

"As long as I'm in the ground I don't care if their is a famine that kills everybody after I die."

Aren't you that guy who pretends he cares about his son?

You always have to go there don't you?

Upon notification of his Peace Prize winning, he told the messenger, "You're joking, right?" and resumed tending to his wheat field. Love it. RIP, Mr. Borlaug.

Amazing. I lived in Austin for years so A&M was (and IS) the enemy.
But someone did something like this that enabled so much food to be produced? Excellent man! Bless his memory. He just defeated the Aggie joke.
My hat is off to him.

Rcade has my full appreciation for turning me on to this gent. If only he had crusaded against how bland tofu is.... never mind.

Good for Borlaug. He probably would have gotten a good laugh out of all the 'Aggie' stuff like coffee cups with the handle on the inside ..

Its a horrible tragedy that he had to die...in a cesspool like Texas!!!

But someone did something like this that enabled so much food to be produced?

Unfortunately, the Green Revolution has been disastrous for many countries. America is one of them. We suffer from 'bloated people syndrome'. Many of us are so bloated we waddle to the store in place of walking to buy more refined starch and sugar.

I Bali the countries ancient self sustainable rice terraces were almost totally destroyed before ancient farming techniques were revived.

So Ringmaster would you say this guy was more or less deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize than Henry Kissinger?

The Nobel Peace prize is a great honor but based on past success. Like Kissinger, Borlaug had no idea of the future consequences of his actions. The green revolution did help feed the billions of new people on the planet, but it also is responsible in part for the growth. In another century it will be but a footnote in history, just like Jimmy Carter; the only American president to get the award. The green revolution is doomed because of greedy business practices that will rob the soil of it's life as sure as chemicals will eventually poison it too. Genetically altered seeds crops will destroy the gene pool of many food plants and mother nature will find a way to attack the single source plants. It's just a matter of time and the Earth has lot's more of that then mankind I predict.

I suspect that by averting famine in the latter half of the 20th century, we simply kicked the can down the road another half century or so.

~Snoofy

THIS.

The green revolution is doomed because of greedy business practices that will rob the soil of it's life as sure as chemicals will eventually poison it too. Genetically altered seeds crops will destroy the gene pool of many food plants and mother nature will find a way to attack the single source plants. It's just a matter of time and the Earth has lot's more of that then mankind I predict.

~Ringmaster

Tru dat as well.

Not to take anything way from Borlaug, who prolly thought he was saving humanity with his work, but by putting off the inevitable pipers bill he has only made it that much larger.

A Big Cull of one variety or another is practically inevitable by this point.

Afterwords the term "sustainability" will have a fuck of lot more resonance with the peoples of this earth than it seems to have now.

Be Well.

I wonder if prior unexplained mass extinction events are the only record of previous civilizations who got too smart for their own good.

Rest in peace... you are a true hero.

Norman Borlaug (1914-2009): Nobel Winner and Father of Pakistan's Green Revolution'

saving hundreds of millions of lives

At least a billion.

Dwarf wheat probably saved well over a billion lives over time.

And if we hadn't invented [INSERT PREVIOUS TECHNOLOGY HERE], those lives would never have existed to require "saving" in the first place.

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back, Western civilization.

You can't save lives by feeding people, you can only prolong it for a few more years, but quality of life is something else. The questions is do Americans have a better quality of life then say Thais because of their processed food? I for one sure don't think so.

TV dinners mean less time cooking and more time for QVC and FOX so therefore yes this is a better quality of life. Sitting on a sofa eating food from the microwave - what could be a higher quality of life than that?

LOL, I prefer eating curried shrimp, heaps of spicy vegetables and sipping Thai tea served by a foxy waitress while being entertained by beautiful dancers. To each his own I guess.