Lester Russel Brown is called "one of the great pioneer environmentalists." In his new book is Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity he emphasizes the geopolitical effects of fast-rising grain prices,^[2] noting that "the biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries" . The world food situation is deteriorating. Grain stocks have dropped to a dangerously low level. The world food price index has doubled in one decade. The ranks of the hungry are expanding: political unrest is spreading.

     Brown describes these scenes in his book: On the demand side of the food equation, there will be 219,000people at the dinner table tonight who were not there last night, industrial capacity to convert grain into automotive fuel makes the food supply tighter. At the same time, water shortages and heat waves are making it more difficult for farmer to keep pace with demand. The land rush is on. From 1986, when we lost the idled cropland buffer. After 2001, the carryover stocks of grain dropped sharply as world consumption exceeded production. From 2002 through 2011, they averaged only 74 days of consumption, a drop of one third. Against thisbackdrop, it is not surprising that the U.N. Food Price Index was at 201 in June 2012, twice the base level of 100 in 2002–04.

      Lots of data in this book show that food situation in China is not optimistic: China,  now consumes twice as much meat as theUnited Statesdoes. As the deep aquifer under the North China Plain is depleted, the region is losing its last water reserve—its only safety cushion. Close 60% of all soybeans entering international trade today go toChina. For consumers who spend higher proportion of their income on food, a doubling of food prices is a serious matter.

       As food supplies tighten, the geopolitics of food is fast overshadowing the geopolitics of oil. Food is the new oil. Land is the new gold. Many exporting countries tried to curb rising domestic food prices by restricting exports. With key suppliers restricting or banning exports, importing countries panicked. It now seems that the most imminent effect will be tightening supplies of food. Food is the weak link in our modern civilization. The challenge now is to move our early twenty-first century civilization onto a sustainable path. The challenge is to save civilization itself.