Keeping Africa Hungry: The Green Agenda?

Anti-science Greenies keep Africa poor, says boffin
By Andrew Orlowski

What's happened to Sir David King, surface chemist and the former chief scientific advisor to the Government?

Perhaps something fell on his head.

The man dubbed the "King of Climate Porn" achieved notoriety at the turn of the decade as the architect of the Foot and Mouth holocaust - which unnecessarily slaughtered seven million animals, and cost the country billions of pounds. But King astonished observers by saying something sensible last week - and he promises to do so again tonight.

Speaking at the British Association's* Science Week, King will say that the Greenies' anti-science superstitions are causing unnecessary suffering in Africa. King blames "anti-poverty" campaigners, aid agencies and environmental activists for keeping modern farming techniques and bio-technology out of Africa.

"The suffering within [Africa], I believe, is largely driven by attitudes developed in the West which are somewhat anti-science, anti-technology - attitudes that lead towards organic farming, for example, attitudes that lead against the use of genetic technology for crops that could deal with increased salinity in the water, that can deal with flooding for rice crops, that can deal with drought resistance," King told The Times today.

King wonders why recent productivity revolutions in agriculture, which have been such a success in Asia and India, have not been implemented in Africa on the same scale. He concludes that the blame lies not with Africans, but with Western "do-gooders" who prefer Africans to remain picturesque and dirt poor.

An example he cites is the attempts of eco-campaigners Friends of the Earth to keep drought-resistant crops out of Africa.

...Clearly, we can easily generate enough food to feed everyone on the planet and we have the means to ensure there's less human suffering. Some people want that to happen - and some don't. You'll find many nursing their Malthusian or Eugenics prejudices under the banner of Greenery in the former camp - but it's a refreshing surprise to find King in the latter camp, or at least edging away from the Greens' death cult.

Full Story:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/08 ... rica_poor/

Cheers for this Cal, next time I see a 'Friends of the Earth' campaigner, I'm gonna punch that banana split in the nose.

As I've always said to anyone who could be arsed to listen: "The Greens are an evil bunch of c***s".

Robocop BTW.

It's more complicated than that. GM crops could make African farmers dependent on western biotech companies - creating a another golden oppertunity for exploitation. Forced to pay through the nose for genetic property, made the subjects for trials of untested products... A massive Pandora's box no matter how tempting it may seem. What happened to giving the continent self-dependency and control?

There are about a billion things causing unnecessary suffering in Africa and this is the best you could come up with?

You'll find many nursing their Malthusian or Eugenics prejudices under the banner of Greenery in the former camp

What?! Anyone seriously linking Friends of the Earth with eugenics is clearly a tad delusional.

Extralife wrote:It's more complicated than that. GM crops could make African farmers dependent on western biotech companies - creating a another golden oppertunity for exploitation. Forced to pay through the nose for genetic property, made the subjects for trials of untested products... A massive Pandora's box no matter how tempting it may seem. What happened to giving the continent self-dependency and control?

Or how about we just let them have some GM crops and actually start feeding themselves? Too radical? Too obvious?

NO TO FRANKENSTEIN FARMING.

LET EM STARVE RATHER THAN INSULT GOD

So what some people accuse of western capitalists (keeping Africa poor), King decides to blame it on the greens?

andretmzt wrote:So what some people accuse of western capitalists (keeping Africa poor), King decides to blame it on the greens?

I think the blame cannot be placed simply on one group. The problem is much bigger and more complicated than that.

Denster wrote:NO TO FRANKENSTEIN FARMING.

LET EM STARVE RATHER THAN INSULT GOD

Nicely put, young Denster.

I think it all has rather more to do with 'Frankenstein Farming' than with God, but it cannot be morally justifiable to hold back farming technology from starving people and their children - technology we KNOW will yield a crop large enough to feed Africa's starving even in bad times - because we are afraid of a touch of 'cross pollination'..?

I was just being controversial tbh.

Are these special crops harmful to the environment? There must be some reason for not having done it already. It's not as if they're all going to mutate into man-eating giants.

I remember when the second Live Aid thingy was all the range a few years back. All my school chums were well into it, buying the record, claiming it'll 'save the country of Africa' (

). They couldn't understand why I wasn't into it all. I lost count of the times I tried to explain how it all really works. How they are in the state they are in because of the West. How no matter how much money we give them, we take 10 times as much in debt repayment etc. How we charge through the nose for farming equipment that we could easily give them. How corrupt governments will forever spoil any attempt to help the poor farmers...

You know the response I got from Gavin Edwards, in his usual condescending tone?

"Yeah Warren, 'cos that's how it really works innit?"

"The suffering within [Africa], I believe, is largely driven by attitudes developed in the West which are somewhat anti-science, anti-technology "

Yea, that's what we Westerners are famous for; disliking science and technology. That's why we're one of the most medically and technologically advanced nations in the world.

This article is bullshit. Pure 2+2=723 bullshit.

Igor wrote:I remember when the second Live Aid thingy was all the range a few years back. All my school chums were well into it, buying the record, claiming it'll 'save the country of Africa' ( ). They couldn't understand why I wasn't into it all. I lost count of the times I tried to explain how it all really works. How they are in the state they are in because of the West. How no matter how much money we give them, we take 10 times as much in debt repayment etc. How we charge through the nose for farming equipment that we could easily give them. How corrupt governments will forever spoil any attempt to help the poor farmers...

I know exactly what you mean. I know this one girl who supported both Live Earth and Live Aid. I pointed out to her, that if Live Aid succeeds and Africa becomes our equal, Live Earth can't succeed. She ignored my point entirely. Not, might I add, that I think Africa should be kept poor in order to help lower carbon emissions! I'm just pointing out that hopeless idealism without proper doesn't help one bit.

Skarjo wrote:"The suffering within [Africa], I believe, is largely driven by attitudes developed in the West which are somewhat anti-science, anti-technology "

Yea, that's what we Westerners are famous for; disliking science and technology. That's why we're one of the most medically and technologically advanced nations in the world.

This article is bullshit. Pure 2+2=723 bullshit.

We might be medically and technologically advanced in theory, but that doesn't mean we don't dislike it as a population. Genetically modified food is the next logical step in the development of agriculture, yet we seem unable to take it, instead relying on more expensive 'organic' food which is, if anything, a step backwards. We've been genetically engineering our crops since agriculture was invented, why stop now we understand it at a molecular level? Dame meeja and their Frankenstein foods.

That was the only point I agreed with though. The rest of the article is pretty rubbish.

JK wrote:
Skarjo wrote:"The suffering within [Africa], I believe, is largely driven by attitudes developed in the West which are somewhat anti-science, anti-technology "

Yea, that's what we Westerners are famous for; disliking science and technology. That's why we're one of the most medically and technologically advanced nations in the world.

This article is bullshit. Pure 2+2=723 bullshit.

We might be medically and technologically advanced in theory, but that doesn't mean we don't dislike it as a population.

Doesn't even have to be the whole population or a majority of it, only a clique of green activists and aid workers.

Haven't read the article here, but here are some thoughts of Norman Blaug, father of the Green Revolution (the reason why we're all so fat).

Extremists in the environmental movement from the rich nations seem to be doing everything they can to stop scientific progress in its tracks. Small, but vociferous and highly effective and well-funded, anti-science and technology groups are slowing the application of new technology, whether it be developed from biotechnology or more conventional methods of agricultural science.

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/margi ... rlaug.html
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/borlaug.html

I've never got the problem with GM foods. What the hell is wrong? The plants are made to grow in lower temperatures, or with less sunlight. It's not going to do you any harm, at all.

smurphy wrote:I've never got the problem with GM foods. What the hell is wrong? The plants are made to grow in lower temperatures, or with less sunlight. It's not going to do you any harm, at all.

There is the very real problem that corporations could engineer their seeds so that they become sterile after one or two generations, thereby forcing the poor farmers to cough up for some more.

However, it seems all the general public seem to care about is that their broccolli might sprout limbs and attack them mid-chomp.

JK wrote:However, it seems all the general public seem to care about is that their broccolli might sprout limbs and attack them mid-chomp.

Yeah, it's UK consumers that annoy me. With their ignorance and natural fear of anything different.

Cheers JV.

Keeping Africa Hungry: The Green Agenda?

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