Maggie's Farm

The burgeoning former so-called second and third worlds--aka "bric" and "chindia" (Brazil, Russia, India, China and associated economies) are also eating better--more meat & dairy--which also pushes up food prices.

Re GW and Bali, over @ belmont:

"Here's how the UN climate conference delegates kept their cool. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

The air-conditioning system installed to keep more than 10,000 delegates cool used highly damaging refrigerant gases - as lethal to the atmosphere as 48,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and nearly the equivalent of the emissions of all aircraft used to fly delegates to Indonesia. ...

Staff from Australia's Natural Refrigerants Transition Board and the London- and Washington-based Environmental Investigation Agency noticed the stockpiled cylinders of hydrochlorofluorocarbons - a refrigerant likely to be phased out over the next few years because it devours ozone in the upper atmosphere. In addition, the refrigerant is a potent greenhouse gas, with each kilogram at least as damaging as 1.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide."

http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/12/bally-high.html

dunno--but i thought the same thing. Maybe it was (cough) only USA that banned them. That would sorta conform to the general run of things, wouldn't it?

As long as their bellies are growling, and they're depending on the goodwill of the local party boss for the ration cards, and the local party boss is backed by a secret police who may be watching through the eyes of neighbors, yes, the hungry poor make good socialist subjects.