Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Climate Change and Environmental Issues Billions face food shortages, study warns

RT, if you are still here, I have a couple of questions. No tricks here; I am asking what you think.

1) You refer to desalinization plants. I'd like to know whether you think people in general and ag users specifically, currently pay the real cost of the water they use? Do you think they should? I used to live near an early desalinization plant on the Colorado and it was considered an expensive way to recover water at the time so I'm out of date on water issues. When I left the West there were still serious difficulties with the amount of water we were(n't) sending to Mexico in the Colorado River.

In summary, do you think there are problems with the quantity of water available for relatively inexpensive use in the West?

A corollary question: which of the methods you recommend for the the US would work in third-world countries currently facing drought and food shortages?

2) You also refer to farming with chemicals - I presume you are talking about fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and (in animals) growth hormones. Current use of chemicals has a serious effect on the environment, including deformed fish and large algae blooms. Do you think there is any reason to be concerned about increasing the use of chemicals on the food supply?