It is now being projected that global demand for food will more than double over the next 50 years.  Right now there are over 6 billion people on earth.  Around 2040 or so there will be 9 billion people on earth.  By the 2060s, there would be over 11 billion people on earth.  So where in the world are we going to get the food to feed all of those people? 

A global food shortage is coming.  There is no possible way that the world can produce enough food for that many people under the current system.

Already 1 billion people in the world go to bed hungry every single night.

Already somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds and 3/4 of them are children under the age of 5.

Already approximately a third of all children in the world under the age of five suffer from serious malnutrition.

And the bad news is that the world simply does not have enough water to grow much more food.

Just consider the following quote from IWMI director general Colin Chartres....

"Current estimates indicate that we will not have enough water to feed ourselves in 25 years time, by when the current food crisis may turn into a perpetual crisis."

Not only that, but because of overfarming and pollution, we are rapidly losing farm land.  Today almost 25% of the world’s farm land is affected by serious environmental degradation.  That is up from 15% two decades ago.

In some of the biggest countries in the world the environmental situation is absolutely nightmarish.

For example, it is estimated by authorities that 75 percent of India's surface water is contaminated by human and agricultural waste.  The truth is that there is over a billion people in India, but sanitation is still only just starting to be developed in many areas.  So many people there just "use the toilet" wherever they can.  In fact, according to a UN study on sanitation, far more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet.

But it just isn't places like India where rampant environmental degradation is a problem.

It is happening in the United States too.

It turns out that many big American cattle farms actually feed chicken manure to cattle because it is so inexpensive and because we produce far too much of it to properly dispose of as fertilizer.

So are you eating beef that is from cattle that were fed chicken manure every day?

How would you know?

Not only that, but the world cannot get much more food out of the oceans either.  29 percent of world fisheries are in a state of collapse according to Canadian scientist Boris Worm, and in the years ahead the world fishing industry may actually produce less food rather than more food.

But much more food will be needed in the years ahead.

The really sad thing is that we waste so much food right now.  In developed countries we throw away anywhere from one-third to one-half of all food produced.

Considering the fact that so many people in the world are suffering from a lack of food, that is absolutely criminal.

In the years ahead we won't be wasting that much food.  That is for certain.  We will look back on these days when there was plenty of food with longing.  These are still good times.  Even though the world economy is starting to spin out of control, the truth is that we haven't seen anything yet.  A devastating world economic collapse is on the way, and a global food shortage will follow shortly thereafter.

Are you ready?

We are destroying the habitats of thousands of species and we are now seeing animal extinctions at an unprecedented pace.

We are raping the earth's resources and are depleting them at a staggering rate that much of humanity simply still does not understand.

We are depleting the oceans and the topsoil so rapidly through overfishing and overfarming that the ability of humanity to feed itself in the future is very seriously in question.

We are genetically modifying crops, plants, animals and almost anything else that we can get our hands on. In doing so, we are permanently altering our ecosystem, our food supply and our genetic future.

And if all of that was not enough, the use of depleted uranium munitions and other illegal armaments is causing catastrophic environmental destruction of a kind that we have never seen before in human history.

The truth is that we are destroying the beautiful earth that God gave us.

Do any of you think that God likes us being so destructive and so wasteful?

Do any of you still have any doubt that we are the most wasteful society in the history of the world?

For those of you who have ANY doubt that we are the most wasteful bunch of slobs in the history of the world, please watch this 20 minute video entitled "The Story of Stuff":

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

The truth is that we are gluttons and pigs and horrible caretakers of this planet that God gave to us.

But the God of the Bible is the ultimate environmentalist.

You are doubtful?

Consider some of the following examples from the Scriptures.....

Exodus 23:10-11

"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove."

Not even the most wacked out environmentalist would suggest making farmers rest their land once every seven years.

But the truth is that our topsoil has almost been completely depleted.

Now we stand on the very edge of some of the greatest famines that the world has ever seen.

You see, there is a reason why we are urging you to store up an emergency food supply for you and your family.

If we had followed God's laws, we would have never gotten into such a mess.

Perhaps the God of the Bible knew what He was doing after all.

But of course we refuse to listen to Him.

Let us consider another example.....

Leviticus 19:19

"Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material."

Surely this commandment must be unreasonable!

So no polyester?

No nylon?

No genetic engineering?

No genetically modified crops?

Only 100 percent biodegradable clothing for everyone?

No clothing and other junk filling up landfills forever and ever?

Perhaps God knew EXACTLY what He was doing after all.

The truth is that God has known exactly what is best of us all along, and when we do our own thing we really, really mess things up.

And the truth is that the Scriptures say that God is going to judge those who destroy the earth....

Revelation 11:18

"The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great— and for destroying those who destroy the earth."

The reality is that we all need to repent for our incredibly greedy and selfish ways.

God entrusted this planet to mankind and told us to take care of it.

But we didn't.

Instead, we have raped the earth.

Not only that, but we have broken God's laws in just about every single way imaginable.

We have all sinned greatly, and we all stand guilty before God.

But the good news is that there is forgiveness for our sins if we are willing to receive it, and that forgiveness comes through the Son of God, Jesus Christ:

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1049/1049_01.asp