Wired magazine info porn - World Food Supply and Demand Diverge
Wired magazine info porn - World Food Supply and Demand Diverge

What Works

This is a simple concept, displayed beautifully. The demand for food will outstrip our current ability to produce it.

What Needs Work

Since the timeline is already marching along the x-axis I want to see some context. Tell me when Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug revolutionized agriculture and increased yields by orders of magnitude. Show me how global population maps onto the demand for food. Tell me if I should be concerned about the growing Chinese and Indian middle classes who will probably demand more meat (and hence more land per kcalorie). This data is out there and adding it to this graphic would have elevated it from simply beautiful, to being both beautiful and smart.

Relevant Resources

Doyle, Stephen and Zavislak, Zack. (November 2008) “The Future of Food.” in Wired Magazine. 188-205 [So sorry, but I cannot find this article online. If you want to see more, let me know, because the food info porn went on for pages and I scanned them all. There was a centerfold on cows.]

Nobelprize.org Norman Borlaug Biography

Naim, Moises. (March/April 2008) Can the World Afford a Middle Class? in Foreign Policy.

Watts, Jonathan. (20 May 2008) More wealth, more meat. How China’s rise spells trouble in The Guardian.