The Price of Food: Who’s to Blame?

On May 3, speaking to the issue of rising food prices, President Bush Jr cited developments in India, where the “middle class is larger than our entire population” and added, “when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.”

This was a true statement, however one that was very incomplete, and Indian citizens’ feeling slighted over the remark was justified. Bush, myself, and other experts have regularly talked about India and China’s rising standards of living as driving up the price of natural resources, but there is an old development that we need to consider also.

While people in Haiti are eating flavored mud, I learned yesterday that American’s are throwing out 27 percent of our food. While the average Indian consumes 2,440 calories a day, the average American consumes 3,790. America has the highest rates of obesity, and obese people have the biggest impact on the environment. It’s not wholly their fault, as portion sizes have doubled and tripled over the last 20 years:

Today’s 20-ounce Coke has 2.5 servings

China and India have every right to our standard of living and their economic equality will ultimately benefit the world, but our world cannot support everyone living at our level of excess. It’s important that we all moderate our consumption.