In Davos on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the quiet part out loud: “A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself.”
How right he is, and we all should worry.
A huge proportion of the fruits and vegetables eaten by Canadians travel across international borders, and most of this is either produced in the United States or transits through a U.S. port or along an American highway. An irascible U.S. government could starve us within days, and we would have no easy alternatives. So, as old alliances continue to fray, we must realize Greenland, Venezuela, Ukraine and Gaza are wake-up calls. We are living in a world of sharks who don’t think twice about sacrificing communities to the whim of politics.
We are also racing against time in terms of climate change. By the end of the century, huge areas in the Southern U.S., as well as in Latin America, Africa and Asia, will become less productive. In some places, agriculture may fail entirely.