Friday, October 11, 2013


Sorry about that; I have always wanted to be an apocalyptic prophet.


My friend Andy, an urban farmer, posted a link to an article from the Indian Times about the coming chocolate apocalypse and an actual date that is given for it in the story: October 2, 2020. According to the story, 
Am I the only one whose Friday has been ruined? This is serious is it not?
Part of the difficulty is knowing how to respond. Do you go and buy a lot of cocoa and hoard it? Or do you cut back on consumption and encourage others to do the same? Does this mean prices will rise to unheard of levels? Will there be an end to chocolate or will it simply be the purview of the wealthy? The story did say that “chocolate prices may increase over the next few years as cocoa becomes harder to get hold of.”
That does bring to mind at least one passage from the book of Revelation 6 regarding the Four Horseman:
5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, "Come!" I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, 6 and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"
Will it be a bar of chocolate for a day’s pay?
Seriously, though, food shortages, even potential food shortages, point to our need to steward the earth, care for the resources we use, and make certain that we do not overuse or exploit the resources we depend on for life.
This is the earth we have and we need to care for it. The only note of optimism I can offer is that given the reliability of apocalyptic doomsayers generally, I am not certain that I can trust anyone’s apocalyptic predictions, especially date specific. More than that, people can change their behavior about how they consume resources and that, it seems, is what we need to do.
 
John W. Martens
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