Update 1: October 14, 2019

The global food system took a long while to get this complicated, but we have just a fraction of that time to fix it. GEAS is taking close interest in our efforts to invent ways out of the mess we're in.

The Ravenous Superthreat is by its nature a "long zoom" problem, spanning the highly personal at one end, through to global and systemic issues at the other -- so the first responses to the now-notorious "23 years" announcement have taken many forms. Some folks talk about serious systemic dangers such as the destruction of pollinator species, while others remind us that we might as well try to enjoy ourselves, after all, it's not the end of the world (yet). spinnerin started a flurry of discussion on home brewing, whereas J Grimsley advocates resorting to the bottle for more practical reasons, suggesting that in any area where food excesses do happen to occur, it could be converted into alcohol for use as a practical currency and potential biofuel. The Bedells in Williamsburg, Virginia ask what will become of our domestic pets as it becomes harder to feed ourselves. Empiricus in central Oregon wants to restructure the entire economy around the water cycle.

Around the world, members have been documenting their personal attempts to address a worsening global food crisis. While some have expressed nostalgia for foods we can't get anymore, others are seeing more worrying responses even to relatively trivial shortages. Much discussion has revolved around the challenges of adapting and learning about local produce. For many, the focus has been on ensuring their families and communities continue to be able to eat – which has seen them reach out to others in the same situation for support and cooperation. A number of locations appear to be undergoing what SEHI Pamela Cash has referred to as a"reverse industrial revolution". Families such as becca4656's have been managing to get 2 to 3 crops a year out of their home garden on their own, but many are now turning to small, cooperative communities. We're hearing from a number of these, ranging from a group in the United Kingdom looking for people to join a new commune they're setting up, to a touching short story from a small farming community in Arizona. Hector Valentine is documenting the life of a group living and farming in an old industrial park, and rtgarden2019 describes the knowledge shared in a closed trading community.

A key tension in this Superthreat lies between open collaboration and security. With increasing hunger across the board, efforts to grow our own food draw the risk of being plundered or damaged by others. In St Louis, Missouri, PlatonicJensen was one of the first to document hisgarden being raided, and was left fearing it will only get worse. His concerns are echoed bySwiftrunner in Northern Ontario, whose greenhouse was destroyed in clashes between hungry refugees and locals trying to protect their produce. Some are urging compassion for those who need to steal food, while one family is happy to admit "scrumping" whatever is left behind after harvesting because of rot, disease, or general wastage. Ruud Dirven in Amsterdam has controversially declared such small-scale efforts ludicrous, in face of the larger problem. Reports from places like Singapore and Korea do suggest that many around the world will need more comprehensive solutions.

Fortunately, seeds of positive change, in the form of new Superstructures, are springing up to address these complex challenges from all angles. Every SEHI is encouraged to search these for opportunities to contribute their energy, knowledge and skills! Indeed, speaking of seeds, they (especially heirloom varieties) are emerging as a potentially important focal point for efforts to combat Ravenous (discussed here, and addressed by a nascent 'struct here). A couple of promising, but so far, skeletal initiatives have been floated around the integration of gaming and simulations with farming (Appleseed and Terra Perma). They need your help!

A number of 'structs aim to reclaim urban spaces for food production: Terraformers ("go back and make it work"), The Rooftop Cultivation Association, the Urban Food Producers' Coop, and Rooftop to Kitchen. One 'struct starts with the well known conservation design principle Cradle to Cradle("waste = food"), and several others build on the same concept by putting particular, sometimes unusual, waste products back into circulation -- check out Livefeed, Night Soil Collection Service, and Soylent Green. Meanwhile, ReWilders proposes hands-on education in "primitive" survival skills like hunting, and Emergency Permaculture seeks to design and distribute kits to enable refugees to start their own gardens. We can be confident that instructional videos and other practical information in this vein will earn volunteers recognition and contribute to our collective survivability.

SEHIs looking for support can resort to meta-superstructures set up by other volunteers. There is already a group devoted to aggregating and harmonising initiatives aimed at Ravenous; there are some to connect Superstructs together -- Facilitators and Super-Infra-Struct. To send out a call for something specific, try the Classifieds, Superstruct IRC, or Lazystruct shoutcaster.

As your Ravenous guides, we're well aware of the odds stacked against the human enterprise at this point, but we can honestly say -- you're making a difference! Even after so short a time, the signs of collective ingenuity are everywhere we look. Cayman has reported on a University/NGO joint venture for self-powered solar sea farms, which despite recent attacks, could signal a truly sustainable solution for costal areas. Also encouraging is the launch of the Africa Community Gardens Project, which we hope to hear more about after next week's strategy meeting between GEAS Africa and local agricultural experts. Finally, from the breakaway nation of Tasmania comesvery upbeat results from the Globalis Archipelago Vertical Farms, which have been producing 200% above expected capacity! We're excited to see what other "bright green" -- environmentally sensitive, but technologically sophisticated -- counter-Ravenous initiatives emerge from the SEHI community as time goes on.

Can you hear the thunder, people? It's the sound of several billion rumbling stomachs: the portent of a coming storm. The whole world is ravenous, and feeding time is nigh. Keep Superstructing, discussing, telling your stories, and eating as healthy as you can.

Fortunately for all of us, the one thing that isn't lacking here at Ravenous HQ is food for thought...

~futuryst (Stuart Candy, Honolulu, Hawaii) & mrjudkins (Josh Judkins, Wellington, New Zealand), 14 October 2019