Food is a global issue. Once upon a not very long time ago, food was largely regional. If the weather was favorable in your area, you and others grew plenty of food for your family and for the surrounding area. If it rained too little or too much, you were probably looking at a pretty rough winter. The next region over though was largely unaffected. Or if you wanted strawberries in March, you were probably just going to have to wait a couple of months until they were in season again. Now, you can get pretty much any food you want any time you want it. Basically, strawberries are in season somewhere and the food supply chain is robust enough to get them from there to your corner grocery store. Corn grown in Iowa goes all over the world, same with rice in China. Your last Big Mac might have come from a cow raised in Brazil. In a lot of ways, this is a great thing. Despite there being many more people on the planet than there were when food was local, more of them are fed.
However, it also comes with a couple of downsides, the biggest of which being that the food supply chain is vulnerable. Now, if the weather or something else disrupts the crops in one area, it doesn’t just affect that area, the whole world can quickly find itself short on corn, meaning many go hungry and the prices for everyone else get higher.
For a year now, COVID and the response to it has put unprecedented strain on our food supply, leading to issues from the local small town to far off villages. The response to COVID led to the shutdown of course of pretty much every restaurant in the country, except for takeout, led to the total disruption of the supply chain. Since people weren’t going out to eat as much, they turned to the grocery stores, which put so much strain on them that even Costco and Sam’s Club had limits on how much of certain items could be purchased, if they were there at all. It’s not that there wasn’t food, it’s that there are multiple food supply chains and it proved impossible to redirect the resources from the restaurant supply chain to the grocery stores. As a result, literally tons of food were wasted. Fortunately the system adjusted in a couple months and most people were only inconvenienced (that’s to say nothing of the unemployed who were relying on food pantries, but that’s a separate issue). Yet, the situation did a lot to show that something as important as our food supply chain is a lot more fragile than most would have thought.
Climate issues raised fears of further disruption just months later when a massive storm ripped through the plain states, destroying millions of wheat crops. Again, we seem to have gotten lucky with how the system has managed to respond and other than a price increase due to lower supply things seem to have remained stable. However, should we be faced with these things happening at the same time, we could be in real trouble. Imagine a pandemic as bad as we feared COVID would be, at the same time as a hurricane that decimates a couple important ports while a drought destroys crops out west. Does that sound far-fetched? Then you haven’t paid much attention last year. Any one of those types of events is happening somewhere in the world at any given point. All it would take is a flap of the butterfly’s wings to get them to line up a little differently.
How to weather such a series of unfortunate events? Right now, we can’t really say. Which is exactly why we need to come together and use our data and other resources to better understand the world we are living in. Only then can we hope to be prepared to handle major disruptions to the things we take for granted. It’s a simple choice, use our data to save and build a better world, or don’t use it, and hope we get lucky again.
What’s your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
Climate issues raised fears of further disruption just months later when a massive storm ripped through the plain states, destroying millions of wheat crops.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to TARTLE CAST with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future and source data defines the path.
Alexander McCaig (00:25):
Jason, for a lot of us especially here in the United States, when someone says to you, "I'm starving, I got to eat." You don't know what starving is like.
Jason Rigby (00:34):
No, they have no idea.
Alexander McCaig (00:35):
I can't stand when someone who has access to a grocery store says, "I'm starving." Do you ever really know what it's like to go hungry, to have no food? There's a huge majority of the world that lives in legitimate fear and worry of that every single day, "Am I going to have food today? Am I going to have the access to a meal?" That system has been so unstable and fragile, which is ridiculous, considering the amount of food we generate in our country alone through our own farming operations.
Alexander McCaig (01:06):
It's ridiculous that we have such a scarcity of food going to people who really need it. And we consume so much here in the United States, way more than we need to, way more calories than we need to. So with COVID, the effects weren't just people getting a virus and living, or getting a virus and having some condition before and dying. I mean, that's bad, but the real thing is, what was the impact? The systemic impact. And we're always thinking in systems thinking terms of that on food, that is huge. There's such a scarcity of food.
Alexander McCaig (01:49):
And when that supply chain becomes strained like HomeGoods. The HomeGoods here in New Mexico can't get any new product in. If a HomeGoods, which has really locked down on their supply chain, can't get any food in, or Walmart slow at getting it in. Imagine what it's like for people that had a 20% chance of having a meal for their day, with no access to any place like that as a resource. That has just been wiped out, that's sort of famine. It's not the virus that's killing people.
Alexander McCaig (02:19):
It's the impact of the virus, not the virus itself that is going to wipe people out for a longer period, way after that virus is actually gone. Trying to recover a system that was so fragile and it just shatters into pieces. And so when we look at our big seven, not only is it a function of public health for us, but it's also a function of climate stability, where if we don't stabilize the climate which is already stressed as is-
Jason Rigby (02:49):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (02:50):
... and it's decreasing our crop yields and increasing food scarcity. And then we couple that with a pandemic, a global health issue that then just totally tanks that system all together. It leaves people with nothing, and this is something that really needs to be focused on. And so if we can direct efforts... And I know you're going to get into this article.
Alexander McCaig (03:11):
If we can direct efforts with our data to talk about our consumption rates, talk about those fears, talk about where we go to actually acquire those food. Get that boots on the ground, research through using TARTLE as a tool to do that, and acquire it from people that are truly in that area of scarcity, that live that life of scarcity, we can begin to solve and fix this crippled system.
Jason Rigby (03:34):
Yeah. And when we look at our big seven, which I'm going to shut it out real quick. Climate stability, educational access, human rights, global peace, public health government and corporate transparency, and economic equalization. When we look at the food chain, we look at this instability. I mean, you would love it to be anti-fragile in the sense of, "Okay, we have COVID that made it stronger."
Alexander McCaig (03:54):
It didn't.
Jason Rigby (03:54):
... and it didn't. And there are networks, and I love this one you have it up on the screen, CGIAR. They joined forces with the World Food Program to tackle these post pandemic hunger.
Alexander McCaig (04:08):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (04:09):
And some of the things that they were talking about is our big seven, and how that's affecting. We mentioned the other day, it's not just climate stability, it's not just the disruption of the food. Violence plays a big role in whether you're getting food or not either.
Alexander McCaig (04:21):
Absolutely. If there's violence in an area, farmers aren't going to farm. You can't travel because it's too much of a risk. It's less of a risk for you to sit there and starve temporarily than to go out there and get shot.
Jason Rigby (04:35):
Yeah. And CGIAR and WFP, winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, they signed a memorandum of understanding to continue their longstanding partnership to build. And this is what I like their focus, build resilience and promote sustainable agriculture.
Alexander McCaig (04:49):
Yeah. Resilience.
Jason Rigby (04:50):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (04:50):
And resilience will happen through information. Sustainable agriculture happens through information. It's really understanding what those yields need to be, what people's consumption rates are in certain areas, where things are really needed. "Don't grow this, grow that." Have the people determine at what their needs are.
Jason Rigby (05:06):
Yeah. And they said, they're going to focus on... These two organizations are going to focus on concentration on the links. So they figured out a link like a bridge building.
Alexander McCaig (05:15):
Yep.
Jason Rigby (05:15):
Climate change and conflict, which is the violence we talked about.
Alexander McCaig (05:18):
Right.
Jason Rigby (05:18):
The adaption of food systems. So how our adaption... I mean, I think that's an important word. And then also the risk impacts on food security, which we don't think about that. Making sure that it's secure.
Alexander McCaig (05:31):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (05:32):
How secure is the system? Is it easy to disrupt?
Alexander McCaig (05:36):
Yeah. And those studies, those research studies for those links, those bridge building efforts will require data. Will require that understanding of the people that sit on both sides of those bridges. So sit on both sides of those links, and then looking for the common ground between the two. How does that adaptation work? Right?
Alexander McCaig (05:54):
So if people are evolving, and they're trying to this system, well, how do we adapt it properly? How do we know what those... How those interlinks are systemically affecting one another and things outside of that. And those have to be looked at. In this, it'll be fundamentally important that they continue to acquire the information from those individuals that are directly impacted from it.
Jason Rigby (06:15):
Yeah. And the reason they collaborated together is because of this COVID-19 pandemic. It's adding pressure to an already fragile food system.
Alexander McCaig (06:26):
[inaudible 00:06:26].
Jason Rigby (06:26):
Before 2020 hit and COVID, it was fragile in and of itself.
Alexander McCaig (06:31):
But you need collaboration.
Jason Rigby (06:32):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (06:32):
The world has come to a point where we do have to come together to solve these things. Otherwise, it's... You're done. So, it requires a unifying collective effort. We tout about this all the time with us coming together with our data. And now we're seeing that these really forward-thinking groups are coming together to say, "We need to tackle this because I can't do it on my own. There's nothing, don't be shy about asking for help. It's important." And that's what this has come down to.
Jason Rigby (07:01):
Yeah. And they talked about the countries that are going to be risk of famine. And then it's going to rise. Now 2021, it's going to rise to 270 million. So, whenever we're looking at-
Alexander McCaig (07:10):
That's almost the entire United States starving.
Jason Rigby (07:13):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (07:14):
The whole United States, so a 313 million people, maybe. Starving all of it at the same time. Think about what that does for the person's emotional health, for the stability of that country, the erosion of those cultures. There's... And you can't... If you're worried about your access to food, you can't focus on anything else. I can't focus about a job or this sort of protection or these other things I'm worried about just living.
Jason Rigby (07:44):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (07:44):
How am I supposed to care for my family if I can't even feed myself, and I can't feed them? What does that do for anybody? The evolution stops at that point. So when people are thinking, "We got to focus on big business, and we got to use data to solve it." No, you need to focus on the big seven and solve that. Otherwise, you won't have a business. You won't have people to buy your goods and services.
Jason Rigby (08:05):
Yeah, it needs links. The main three is conflict, climate and hunger, they identified.
Alexander McCaig (08:11):
Yep.
Jason Rigby (08:11):
So whenever we look at, and all three of these come hand in hand. And the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the SIPRI. They really pushing climate security, they called it.
Alexander McCaig (08:24):
They call it security, we call it stability.
Jason Rigby (08:25):
Yeah, stability, and I liked that. They said, "Whenever we have climate change, conflict and food security..." Their idea is to aim at the roles of food. So this is important, the roles of food. So I like that-
Alexander McCaig (08:40):
Food has two-
Jason Rigby (08:41):
I started thinking about that. What is the role of food?
Alexander McCaig (08:45):
Food has two fundamental roles. One is it allows the body to be energized so that people can work, that's one. So the supporting of our entire global system, people have to be fed. Otherwise, things stop. People don't drive trucks, they don't fly planes, they don't move cargo ships, they don't move this stuff off the cargo ships. Okay? And then two, food is culture.
Alexander McCaig (09:07):
And when culture disappears, those values history erodes. So if you think about that; what it means to be a human, what it means to share your culture, what it means to transcend borders, what it means to actually work for something. Right? Things of value, and working for yourself or your family, that happens with food.
Alexander McCaig (09:26):
Food offers the availability for those things to actually occur. It's a base need, just like oxygen. Okay. You need a sustainable supply of something so that you can then work. So they have the ability to then have an output, but you need that stream of input.
Jason Rigby (09:43):
And then the roles of food, land and water systems. So we look at land and water systems, I mean, especially water. I mean, there's an issue just to get water. So-
Alexander McCaig (09:54):
Clean water.
Jason Rigby (09:55):
Yeah, clean water. Yeah. So, not only are we looking at how polluted is the land? How screwed up is that? Well, then now we've got to look at water systems, because you cannot grow anything if you don't have water.
Alexander McCaig (10:05):
So let's think about this. We have 270 million starving people. We have a broken food supply chain system. Our climate is pissed off at us, because we made a lot of mistakes. People are staring at a river, but it's filled with trash. And too many cows are taking a dump on the land, so the nitrate content is through the roof, and we can't even plant.
Alexander McCaig (10:25):
We can't plant there anymore, because over here in the United States or like in Brazil, our consumption of meat is far too high. So what do you do? What do you do? When you're staring in the face of oblivion, and I call it [kairosis 00:10:41]. I still got to look that up, kairos, if you guys look for the Greek thing. What do you do at that point? Do you look back? It's like, "No, you need to take this moment right now."
Alexander McCaig (10:50):
And you got to use a tool that's effective for you to come together and solve this, because they're all interlinked. Now, one thing is separate. We have the big seven here for climate, for climate stability, education rights and human right. They're all interlinked, every single one of them. But one of them is a key driver, and that's your climate. If you don't have a global home to live in, you have no home. You have no food to grow anything.
Jason Rigby (11:12):
It has to be a safe home.
Alexander McCaig (11:13):
Yeah. It has to be a safe home. Okay. It has to be a home where we accept and unify one another. A home that we respect, we respect is rivers. Its rivers are it's vascular system, that's the blood that allows it to flow. What happens when you have a clogged heart? What's the number one killer across the globe, apart from food famine? Or I'll just say here in the United States.
Jason Rigby (11:34):
Yeah, it's-
Alexander McCaig (11:34):
Heart disease-
Jason Rigby (11:34):
Cardiovascular disease.
Alexander McCaig (11:35):
Yeah, cardiovascular disease. You're blocking up your rivers, man. You got trash in it. So what difference is it between you getting that trash inside of you in your own heart, and the trash over here, and a major sacred river in like in India? There's no difference. You can't grow, you can't feel good. Right? Acne starts to show up, festering boils sickness disease, and the earth comes become sick and diseased.
Alexander McCaig (12:01):
But with all have these things that are interlinked, if we are the progenitor of that cause, we need to bring our data together collectively and be like, "How do we then solve the thing we created? We created this mess. We are to blame for this." And to think you're not to blame for somebody else's death because of your over-consumption here in the United States is... That is irrational.
Alexander McCaig (12:25):
That is irresponsible. You have a responsibility for your life and everybody else, because we are all human beings. Regardless of race, religion, creed, background, color, it doesn't matter what it is. Okay? We have to be responsible for it. And if you can start by being responsible for your environment, that will have dramatic systemic effects, that will be beneficial to the 270 million people that can't find food tonight.
Jason Rigby (12:46):
And whenever we look at taking that responsibility and doing something about it, and the power that people have right this moment, because they have power right this moment. And literally within 30 seconds to a minute, they can take back that power. How would they do that?
Alexander McCaig (13:03):
They go to tartle.co, they sign up and they start populating data packets towards things they care about, that directly affect them. And then share that with the world, and get paid to share it.
Jason Rigby (13:13):
So everyone, I want you to sign up right now. If you're concerned about the big seven, if you're concerned about this, you go to T-A-R-T-L-E.CO, that's tartle.co. Sign up now, start sharing your data to save this planet.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Thank you for listening to TARTLE CAST with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future and source data defines the path. What's your data worth?
