"Purely Natural Famines Are Becoming Unknown"

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Warming is becoming a major problem. "A change in our climate is taking place very sensibly." Snowfall has become "less frequent and less deep." Rivers that once "seldom failed to freeze over in the course of the winter, scarcely ever do so now."
"This change has produced an unfortunate fluctuation between heat and cold, in the spring of the year, which is very fatal to fruits."
Who wrote those words warning of food shortages due to 'climate change'? Thomas Jefferson in 1785.

Many times (here, here, and here, for example) I have written about The Population Bomb by Paul Erlich and it's completely incorrect prediction of global famines that would wipe out much of the world's population.

Today, Bret Stephens in The Wall Street Journal has some interesting figures about food production in the period of rising world temperatures since 1968, the year the bomb was published:

World population increased 90%.

Maize production up 484%.

Cereal production up 193%.

Vegetables up 308%.

As we have previously discussed on the blog, The Green Revolution, better farming techniques, and warmer temperatures have made all of the difference.

As Mr. Stephens says, "purely natural (as opposed to man-made) famines are becoming unknown. Bret goes on to say, "environmentalists tend to have conveniently short memories, especially when it comes to their own mistakes." Keep that in mind the next time Big Environment tells you the sky is falling due to global warming.

ADDITION: Judy Curry has a great post about climate scientists who can't seem to understand the difference between the venerable, and essential, scientific method and the imagined authority of climate scientists in the political arena. Must reading.

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