This is a threat that, like an asteroid collision, pops back into the American consciousness every few years. There was even a made-for-TV movie a few years back.Vrede too wrote: ↑Mon Jun 26, 2017 8:34 amAgreed, it's easier to sort the list by what actions we should take, but my question was more about threat level absent consideration of our theoretical ability to reduce the threats.Boatrocker wrote: ↑Mon Jun 26, 2017 8:15 amIn order of our ability to do something about it (our will to do something is another argument): ...
It would be like 1816 - the "Year Without a Summer" caused by Mount Tambora half a world away - AND an ash dump covering half the country. That event led to the settling of the American mid-west, as many farmers left the east looking for better growing conditions.
But America is indeed doing something about it: Globalization.
Whether it's just America's crops that get buried or the world's crops get frosted out for a year, America will have everything in place - and the ability to outbid everyone else - for the rest of the world's exportable crops. It's the second and third world that'll take the famine hit.
Every disaster needs an additional villain. That's where I come in, writing just-in-time inventory systems. Those mean that far less food gets thrown out before reaching our plates. But they're also responsible for there being only a few days worth of food in the pipeline if the source gets cut off.