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A comment on Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Change. Parent comment

Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by seren on Friday January 18, 2019 @08:55AM (#18939275)
The scary part is that even if you cannot provide food to even, let's say 3% of the human population, it will create massive destabilization, initially in the part of the world affected, then globally. I remember that at the start of the various Arab Spring revolts, protests were about the cost of food.

I have never been to Egypt, and maybe I have a distorted view of the situation there, but I don't understand how it can sustain a population of 100 millions, on basically a thin strip of arable land around the Nile surrounded by a huge barren desert. It can not be sustainable.

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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by SiempreViernes on Friday January 18, 2019 @09:56AM (#18939669)
First of all, the Nile basin covers 32% of the area of Egypt (330 000 km²), which is a bit more than the size of Italy who supports a population of 60 million.

Secondly, due to the climate they also get two-three harvests per year.

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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by jamesblonde on Friday January 18, 2019 @02:17PM (#18942032)
That said, they still import nearly 20% of their food - https://tradingeconomics.com/egypt/food-imports-percent-of-m...
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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by seren on Friday January 18, 2019 @10:05AM (#18939742)
Thanks, it put things in perspective.
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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by jacquesm on Friday January 18, 2019 @09:50AM (#18939637)
The river quite literally brings life to that 'thin strip'. Without the Nile it would be desert.
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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by CrackpotGonzo on Friday January 18, 2019 @10:13AM (#18939811)
Isn't food instability a contributing factor to the crisis in Syria?
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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by Balero on Friday January 18, 2019 @10:23AM (#18939881)
From what I understand it led to (young) people leaving the countryside to live in cities. This lead to large congregations of unhappy unemployed young people, all new to a particular area. These people then grouped up and protested about the ruling regime, which was the start of the current crisis.
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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by CrackpotGonzo on Friday January 18, 2019 @10:45AM (#18940028)
Exactly, that's a good summary as far as I understand it. In other words, we're already seeing the impacts of food insecurity as a result of climate change and it will only get worse from here.
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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by jtbayly on Friday January 18, 2019 @03:23PM (#18942683)
None of the previous comments on this topic indicated that the food instability was caused by climate change. Are you just assuming that?
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Re:Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Ch... by Balero on Friday January 18, 2019 @04:44PM (#18943398)
From what I can recall it is due to an overlong drought. This could be due to climate change or not.

There are arguments from both sides: https://www.inverse.com/article/25318-aleppo-syria-conflict-... http://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/41428

Also worth remembering that something as complex as the Syrian Civil war is bound to have multiple causes.

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