In much of the western US, especially Arizona, there are enormous farms growing water-intensive crops, in particular alfalfa. These farms are owned by assorted entities in the Middle East, and the crops are shipped overseas.
This is an enormous problem. The Colorado River basin is already over-allocated and there is not enough water to go around. But due to how water rights work, any entity can purchase an open-ended amount of our already endangered water supply and do as they please with it.
At this moment it isn't a critical problem, because we do have enough other agriculture and water to support ourselves. But with the direction the climate is heading, eventually we will have a drought of such severity that the water used by those farms makes or breaks us.
During the Great Famine in Ireland, the island consistently produced more than enough food to feed its citizens; it was all simply sent overseas.
In much of the western US, especially Arizona, there are enormous farms growing water-intensive crops, in particular alfalfa. These farms are owned by assorted entities in the Middle East, and the crops are shipped overseas.
This is an enormous problem. The Colorado River basin is already over-allocated and there is not enough water to go around. But due to how water rights work, any entity can purchase an open-ended amount of our already endangered water supply and do as they please with it.
At this moment it isn't a critical problem, because we do have enough other agriculture and water to support ourselves. But with the direction the climate is heading, eventually we will have a drought of such severity that the water used by those farms makes or breaks us.
During the Great Famine in Ireland, the island consistently produced more than enough food to feed its citizens; it was all simply sent overseas.