This is the time we must unite to save this planet. Let us resolve not to leave our children a world in which oceans rise, famine spreads, and terrible storms devastate our lands. - Barack ObamaThis quote from a speech Barack Obama gave while running for president will go down in history as an embodiment of the vision of hope and change that brought his campaign to life. It is also an explicit reference to the movement against global warming. While the sentiment is profoundly noble, it is quite interesting that famine is presented in the same way as rising seas and storms, i.e. presented as a direct consequence of environmental issues. However, famine is a very complicated issue. There are two important strands of thought that consider famine a natural disaster: Malthusianism and climatology. Malthusianism is named after the Reverend Thomas Malthus. As a concept Malthusianism is concerned with demography. The theory states that famine is a natural brake on overpopulation. Famine maintains the balance between the need for food and food supplies (Devereux 2001: 117). This is a simple but deadly equation; too many mouths to feed + too little food = famine (Arnold 1988:34). However, there is no evidence to support the claim that famine regulates populations. Yet there is evidence of baby booms following famines, for example since the Chinese famine of 1960, in which 30 million people died, the population increased from 650 million to over 1 billion (Devereux 2008:177). Therefore, perhaps the most useful way to view population pressure as one of the underlying factors increasing vulnerability (Devereux 2001:126). ...... middle of the sheet ...... n Devereux, S. ed. The New Famines: Why Famines Persist in an Era of Globalization, London: Routledge pp. 1-26Deverux, Stephen (2008) 'Food Aid and Trade', in S. Devereux and S. Maxwell eds. 2008 Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa, ITDG. ppDréze, J. (2002) 'War and Famine', in V. Desai and R. Potter eds. 2002 The Companion to Development Studies, Arnold, pp.432-36Madeley. J (2000) Hungry for Commerce, Zed. pp 116-301 Sen, A (1981). 'Poverty and Famine', Clarendon Press, Oxford pp39- 92Smith, Ron. (2009). “Exceptional drought” covers 32 million acres in South Texas. Available: http://southwestfarmpress.com/management/exception-drought-covers-32-million-acres-south-texas. Last accessed 14 December 2010.Wanmali, Suddhir and Islam, Yassir. (2002) "Food Safety" in S. Devereux and S. Maxwell eds. 2008 Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa, ITDG. page 156-159