Escalating oil prices, food shortage, crazy weather

Are you getting the same feeling that many of us in different parts of the world are getting?

For one thing, the ridiculous crude price that keeps on yo-yoing these past few weeks and the records it has set. Non-economists like the rest of us mortals are wondering where does all this leads to?

One thing we do know and it is that the rest of our lives is going to be quite different if something is not done to control the upward spiralling price of crude oil.

Almost everything and anything that is linked to oil price will see a quantum leap in price. That means transport charges leading to essential food items, prices of cars, cost of living.

To make a long story short, you and I are edging closer and closer to an economic precipice. Looming large over the horizon is the shortage of rice. Several Asian countries have put a stop to exports.

The prices of the various grades of rice have never been so high. It is actually quite ridiculous. The poor are beginning to feel the brunt of it. The upper middle class as well as the upper class don't really feel the heat yet.

The well-to-do normally have got plenty to spare so if a 10kg bag of rice were to go up by 100 per cent, it translates to just a few dollars more for these wealthy humans.

The lower income and the hardcore poor are the ones who are suffering, and they are no longer silent sufferes. Already in several countries, there are reports of street protests and up fledging uprisings over the food prices.

As if matters are not bad enough, there are bizarre weather conditions in different parts of the globe, all happening at the same time.

A short while after that cyclone disaster in Burma's Irrawaddy delta, China's Sichuan province and the Chengdu area were hit by a massive earthquake. In Burma, the death toll is estimated at more than 80,000 and the figure is rising.

In China, the latest death toll is 68,000 and still increasing. Numerous dams are in danger of cracking up in view of the unstable conditions.

If we all think, it's safe to come out, let me assure you that at its current stage, the world is quite different from the one we were born into years ago.

This brave new angry earth is sort of playing hard ball with the rest of our lives.
Some economic experts are already touting the premise that it could be a "perfect storm".

This means bad things on a global scale can take place if they are not brought under under control soon.

With skyhigh oil prices, growing food shortage and very severe weather, the earth could spin out of control. Right now, there are about 6.7 billion habitants on Earth. We must ask ourselves whether we can allow our lives to be snuffed out just like that.

Looking on the bright side, perhaps it's time to engage in a paradigm shit as far as fossil fuel is concerned. For once, scientists are thinking that perhaps oil may not be the way to go in the next three years.

We all need transport. That's why the idea to invent or create transportation vehicles in the quickest wasy possible is the only way to go.

Perhaps in a short few years, oil may become obsolete. When shove comes to push, humans have the zeal to change every to his favour. Otherwise, he will just be lazy and fat.

On the other end of the spectrum, rice has long been deemed as the staple food for every body. These days, there are lots of people who are switching to other forms of food.

Maybe they are thinking of corn, water and other refrigerated item.

I remember the lesson of World War II when rubber became a very scarce commodity. Scientists then found the answer to natural rubber. They invented synthetic rubber. Today the rubber industry in those major rubber producing countries is at a very low point.

Same went for tin. When backed into a global corner, scientists simply found a better way, maybe even a cheaper and a more efficient way.

However, if solutions are not found fast enough, the world will be right in the path of a perfect storm. It will be an amalgam of severe weather, escalating food prices and an insane oil price.

All these will lead the world down the tubes. Conflicts are the easy way out for the weaker nations. Some of us who have alternatives may return to the land to be farmers.

Those who produce their own food in bad economic times are more likely to survive better in horrendous economic times.

For the rest of us, it's every man for himself, unless there is an orderly systme in which everyone benefits. Never in the modern history of mankind has the world stood so close to the edge of a very steep cliff.

It's one thing to be optimistic and quite another to be prepared. My take on this is: Be prepared. There's no time to lose.

But do not panic. Solutions will and can be found. Desperate times often brings out the best in many of us.

Perhaps for once in so many hundred years, man will find his way back to the right path and steer the rest of mankind to better and brighter days ahead.