Borlaug

Discussion Essay #2 – Mishaal Chudasama In 2011, with the seventh million person born on this planet, the prediction that the population would outrun the food supply was proposed by Malthus (19th century) and Ehrlich (Population Bomb, 1968). Norman Borlaug was a scientist that won a Nobel Peace Prize because of his efforts in providing food for half the world through a green revolution. When criticized about his work, Dr, Borlaug simply responded saying that, “the real problem was not his agricultural techniques, but the runaway population growth that had made them necessary” (1). I believe that human beings are mouths to feed, rather than minds to cultivate. This is because if Malthus and Ehrlich could predict what would happen in the sense that the population would outrun the food supply in the 19th Century, than the people that have survived till today’s date have been a waste of resources. The new generation is founded on the basis of the letter I. What this means is that instead of collectively as a group of people taking responsibility to generate new and exciting ways to make/produce even more food from less resources, we tend to leave it up to less than 1% of the population to handle the situation. Another reason I believe that human beings are mouths to feed rather than minds to cultivate is that there is a fear in the women of our generation. The fear of educated women in today’s world is simple yet complicated. “If I have a baby, I will not be able to reach my goals successfully.” I think this is the logic behind the shortage in births. It is almost like the example of when the price of natural gases was set at a low rate by the government, and when the price ceiling was lifted eventually the price of the natural gas ended up being lower than the price previously set. In the same instance, women not having their rights was the “price ceiling”, ever since they claimed their rights they have been trying to do nothing but be better than their male

Cited: 1. Gillis, Justin. “Norman Borlaug, Plant Scientist Who Fought Famine, Dies at 95.” “The New York Times” Published : September 13, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/business/energy-environment/14borlaug.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 2.