More and more statistics tell us people need to lose weight and it turns out that has an important consequence: Feeding the planet. By 2050 the planet will grow to 9 billion people. And it seems people getting larger will pose a challenge to feeding the planet while hopefully not increasing world hunger. The researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology say this greater caloric intake has not been factored into previous calculations and forecasts of the food needed. The scientists say, ”Based on the discovered trends, feeding 9 billion people in 2050 will require significantly more total calories than feeding the same people today.” They analyzed data from 186 countries (almost all the world’s existing countries) from 1975 to 2014 and not only are people getting heavier they are also getting taller. When seen country by country, the needs of each country varies. In Tonga the average person weighs 205lbs but in Viet Nam it is 114lbs. There are obviously a lot of variables, but the trend still is that people consume more calories, and that means more food.
Let’s hope another batch of scientists figures out how to meet the growing food needs. What concerns me about all this, however, is whether this discovery or issue or problem can avoid expanding the number suffering from hunger. Given how soon 2050 is in light of the growing number of refugees in the world along with the number of existing conflicts and therefore the millions of disrupted lives, it seems to foretell a troubling scenario.