Germany pledges nuclear shutdown by 2022

Germany has decided to shut all its nuclear reactors by 2022 in a drastic policy reversal in the wake of the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant.

The move announced on Monday will make Germany the first major industralised power to shut down all its nuclear plants. However, the decision also means the country will have to find the 22 per cent of its electricity needs covered by nuclear reactors from another source.

Coalition partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government want to keep the eight oldest of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors permanently shut.

Seven were closed temporarily in March, just after the earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima. The eighth, the Kruemmel plant in northern Germany, has been mothballed for years because of technical problems.

A further six will be taken offline by 2021, Norbert Roettgen, the environment minister, said early on Monday after late-night talks in the chancellor's office between leaders of the centre-right coalition.

The remaining three reactors, Germany's newest, will stay open for another year until 2022 as a safety buffer to ensure no disruption to power supply, he said.

Paul Brennan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Berlin, the German capital, said to get rid of the reactors within that "short space of time really is a tall order indeed".

"It is hugely ambitious because it's not just the closure of the nuclear power stations that we're talking about here.

"The other targets that the German government is aimng for are what really make it tough. For example they're insisitng that they will reduce electricity consumption by 10 per cent by 2020.

"They're also insisting that they want to reduce greenhouse emissions by 40 per cent in the same time period, and they want to double the amount of renewable energy by 35 per cent."

Merkel U-turn

Merkel backtracked in March on an unpopular decision just months earlier to extend the life of ageing nuclear stations in Germany, where the majority of voters oppose atomic energy.

Thermal imagery shows the shut down nuclear power plant in Biblis, Germany [Reuters]

Her Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and junior coalition partner the Free Democrats (FDP) met on Sunday after an ethics commission ended its deliberations this weekend.

"It's definite: the latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022," Roettgen said after the meeting. "There will be no clause for revision."

Some politicians had wanted a clause allowing for the agreement to be revised in future. The FDP had wanted no firm date but rather a flexible window for the exit, plus the option of bringing back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in case of emergency.

The coalition agreed to keep one of the older reactors as a "cold reserve" for 2013, if the transition to renewable energies cannot meet winter demand and if fossil fuels do not suffice to make up for a potential shortfall.

Japan disaster

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled Japan's Fukushima plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.

The German decision still needs to go through parliament and leaders of the opposition Social Democrats and the Greens were present at parts of the meeting to enable a broad consensus.

The decision could still face opposition from RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW, the utility companies that run the 17 plants, mostly because of plans to keep a disputed nuclear fuel rod tax.

The coalition wants to retain the tax, which was expected to raise $3.29bn a year from this year, but so far has not been levied. With the immediate exit of eight plants, however, it will raise less than envisaged.

Sources had said the government was mulling scrapping the tax in return for the four big power providers supporting an earlier exit from nuclear energy and not suing the government for its policy U-turn.

Juergen Grossmann, chief executive of the biggest power provider, RWE, has lobbied for nuclear plants to stay open longer, arguing a quick exit would cost energy-intensive industry dearly and could threaten Germany's industrial base.

Before Merkel shut down the oldest plants for three months, nearly a quarter of the country's power was atomic. Her about-turn has done little to regain her support, but has drawn scorn from the opposition and from within her own party ranks.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against nuclear energy at the weekend all across Germany.

Nuclear policy is heavily disputed in Germany and the issue has helped boost the Greens, which captured control of one of the CDU's stronghold states, Baden-Wuerttemberg, in a March election.

Merkel's majority in the Bundesrat upper house vanished last year after the CDU failed to hold onto North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state.

Losing Baden-Wuerttemberg, a vote held after Fukushima and fought in part over energy issues, dealt another blow to Merkel's authority.

Keris Tamingsari : Apakah Ini Keris Sebenar ?

KUALA KANGSAR: Muzium Perak menolak dakwaan mengatakan Keris Taming Sari iaitu satu daripada alat kebesaran Diraja Perak yang dipamerkan di Galeri Sultan Azlan Shah di Bukit Chandan, di sini, adalah palsu atau replika.

Pengarah Muzium Perak yang juga pengurus galeri berkenaan, Nor Janati Ibrahim, berkata pihaknya sering menerima dakwaan sedemikian berikutan ada di kalangan pengunjung meragui keaslian keris itu.

“Keris Taming Sari dipamerkan di galeri ini adalah simpanan dan warisan Sultan Perak. Jadi ia menjadi satu daripada alat kebesaran Diraja negeri ini. Malah, senjata itu hanya boleh dipamerkan kepada umum selepas mendapat perkenan daripada Baginda Sultan Perak sempena Hari Keputeraan baginda.

“Lagipun keris berkenaan sudah menjadi hak Kesultanan Perak yang sah sejak 1528 selepas diwariskan Sultan Melaka, Sultan Mahmud Syah I kepada Sultan Perak pertama iaitu Sultan Mudzaffar Shah,” katanya ketika ditemui Berita Harian, di sini, semalam.

Nor Janati berkata, mengenai ketulenan atau keaslian keris berkenaan masih dalam kajian berterusan dilakukan pihak berkaitan, tetapi yang penting Muzium Perak tetap mengatakan Keris Taming Sari ialah satu daripada alat kebesaran Diraja Perak.

“Kebanyakan tohmahan timbul disebabkan generasi hari ini terlalu terdedah dengan maklumat atau fakta diperoleh daripada pelbagai sumber kurang tepat. Mereka hanya mendengar maklumat daripada sebelah pihak tanpa mengkaji sendiri sejarah sebenar Keris Taming Sari serta warisan alat kebesaran diraja itu.

“Justeru, Muzium Perak dengan perkenan Tuanku (Sultan Perak) mengadakan pameran Keris Taming Sari di Galeri Sultan Azlan Shah selama enam hari bermula hari ini (semalam) sempena Hari Keputeraan Baginda yang ke-83.

“Ia bertujuan memberi pendedahan serta gambaran sebenar mengenai keistimewaan keris yang pernah menjadi milik Laksamana Hang Tuah itu,” katanya.

Keris berkenaan yang diseliputi dedaun emas, manakala sarung atau hulunya diperbuat daripada emas serta dipercayai adunan daripada 20 jenis besi yang sebahagiannya daripada serpihan besi ganggang pintu Kaabah.

Senjata itu dikatakan mempunyai kuasa sakti iaitu pemiliknya tidak lut dimakan senjata lawan dan berupaya berlegar di udara ketika mengejar musuh. Selain itu, ia juga dipercayai mempunyai kuasa untuk memberi petunjuk jika Perak bakal dilanda sebarang musibah atau bencana.

Dipetik : Berita Harian Online ( 30 Mei 2011)

=======================================

Catatan dibawah dipetik daripada Al Qadry blog berkenaan Keris Tamingsari;

Keris Tamingsari adalah salah satu dari keris yang pernah dimilikki oleh Panglima Islam Tamingsari yang berkhidmat dan mengabdikan diri kepada kerajaan Majapahit yang bukan islam, beliau ialah seorang ahli pertapaan khusus untuk menuntut ilmu jirim. Keris kepunyaan Empu Sipolan dari perguruan tanah jawa adalah milik peribadi guru Si Tamingsari si Empu Sipolan. Keris ini telah diwariskan kepada anak murid kesayangan Empu Sipolan yakni Si Tamingsari supaya dijaga dan dipelihara oleh Tamingsari . Keris tersebut mengandungi hikmah kekuatan untuk dibawa berperang seperti kebanyakkan keris keris lain yang boleh mengebalkan tubuh dari dapat dicederakan oleh senjata besi dan lain lain.


Keris Tamingsari telah diwafa'kan dengan cara sulit untuk diisi dengan khadam jin perang dari bangsa khadam jin perang yang kebal seperti yang ada pada kebanyakkan batu batu tertentu atau peralatan senjata lain pada zaman dahulu. Senjata ini telah direka khas oleh Empu Sipolan yang menjadi guru Tamingsari dengan pengisian hikmah kebal kulit yang boleh di cubakan pada bila bila masa tanpa menunggu saat kecemasan. Wafa' ini sedikit berbeza dengan wafa' tulisan kertas atau huruf huruf biasa , kesannya tidak hanya sewaktu kecemasan sahaja.


Keris Tamingsari adalah satu satunya senjata yang boleh menyebabkan si pemakainya menjadi kebal dengan merasakan resapan halus dan kebas di seluruh tubuh serta menambahkan kekuatan tubuh untuk bergerak aktif dan tangkas selama berjam jam tanpa henti. Perkara ini tidak dapat diperolehi melalui latihan jasmani kebanyakkan tetapi hanya dapat di perolehi melalui meditasi tertentu yang dapat menyatukan gelombang gelombang tertentu sehingga dapat disatukan ke bilah senjata terpilih.


Keris Tamingsari bukanlah sebuah keris yang dibuat dari besi sehingga ada yang mengkhabarkan diperbuat dari 99 jenis besi termasuk besi yang diambil dari kaabah, seperti sangkaan kita dan saya sendiri sebelum ini.


Sebenarnya keris Tamingsari diperbuat dari 'Teras Kayu Kelor', orang jawa menyebutnya dengan panggilan 'Galeh Kelor'. Pokok 'kelor' sebenarnya menghasilkan buah yang boleh digunakan untuk merawat beberapa penyakit serius tertentu, dan ia amat dikenali oleh kebanyakkan orang jawa dan india mamak, malbari sebagai bahan perubatan tradisional yang sangat penting. Galeh atau Teras kayu ini jika umurnya telah matang dan berpuluhan tahun hidup akan mempunyai teras yang keras dan berbisa jika terkena kulit manusia mahu pun binatang dengan menggunakan beberapa kaedah tertentu. Teras kayu ini berwarna hitam pekat dan sedikit warna kekayuan.


Di kalangan orang jawa, kayu galeh kelor ini ramai yang memilikkinya kerana dipercayai sangat disukai oleh bangsa khadam jin timbulan perang, khadam jin kebal perang dan khadam jin perang yang bersifat kekal selama pemilik masih mengamalkan ritual tertentunya.


Ramai kanuragan dan paranormal yang mengetahui khasiat kayu ini pasti memakainya dijari sebagai cincin kecil berwarna hitam dalam bentuk empat segi tepat. Pemakai biasanya amat merahsiakan jenis dan khasiat batu cincin dari galeh kelor .

Kisah mengenai khasiat dan rahsia kayu teras kelor ini amat dimengerti oleh orang majapahit dan kanuragan serta paranormal dari kepulauan Indonesia. Maka tidak hairanlah jika Empu Si Polan tidak mensia siakan galeh kelornya untuk dijadikan sebilah keris yang menggegarkan Tanah Melayu diakhirnya nanti.

Teras kelor atau galeh kelor mempunyai sejarah mistiknya yang tersendiri. Pernahkah saudara sidang pelawat mendengar lembu lando..? Maka sejarahnya sangat rapat dengan lembu lando dan sekalian isi perut lembu lando. Biar sahabat sahabat kita dari Marang , pewaris kesultanan Demak Bintara memberikan komennya mengenai lembu lando.


Biasanya si pemakai yang diserang oleh musuh , jika dapat membalas balik dengan satu pukulan kepada penyerangnya dan tepat pada sasaran pasti akan menggelepar dan berbuih mulutnya akibat terkena bisa galeh kelor yang sangat terkenal sebagai senjata pukulan bersarung cincin di jari. Ia menyamai bisanya dengan kekuatan bisa kelabang sayuta yang di pakai oleh pewaris ilmu hitam zaman dahulu. Kayu ini sangat mahal harganya dan jika ada dijual di pasaran sekalipun hanya sebesar kuku jari. Kayu galeh kelor yang sudah matang dan tua amat sukar diperolehi.


Bismillahirrahmaanirrahiim..Dengan Nama Allah Daku menyambung Qalam yang benar. Demi Allah Dan Rasul. Diriku memperjuangkan kebenaran pahlawan Tamingsari yang kembali kepangkuanNya dalam keadaan membenarkan bahawa Allah adalah tuhan yang Esa, Muhammad Adalah PesuruhNya.


Adapun keris Tamingsari itu pula berwarna hitam. Pangkal kerisnya hanya selebar 1 inci setengah. Keris ini panjangnya hanya sejengkal lebih sahaja, tidak kurang daripada itu dan tidak lebih daripada yang demikian sebutnya dan tidak jua ia sama seperti keris yang lain. Oleh itu keris Tamingsari sering tidak kelihatan sewaktu diselit akan dia di pinggang pahlawan.


Keris Tamingsari berwarna hitam mirip seperti warna Keris Tamingsari dalam hayalan M.Nasir cerita Puteri Gunung Ledang. Telah dikhabarkan oleh mereka bahawa Hulu keris dan sarungnya berwarna kekuning kuningan seperti warna kayu jua . Wallaahu a'lam bissawab.


Keris Tamingsari direka oleh Empu Si polan khasnya untuk membocorkan perut panglima panglima yang kebal , dimana mereka memakai khadam jin kebal kebanyakkan. Jika mereka menerima anugerah kekebalan tubuh akibat kersani dibawah kulit dan didarah semula jadinya , maka Keris Tamingsari tidak dapat menembusinya kerana khadamnya lebih tinggi kedudukannya di atas dari khadam jin kebal yang kebanyakkan. Ertinya khadamnya itu lebih kuat.


Adapun dakwa mereka bahawa keris Tamingsari itu telah di buang ke sungai adalah suatu berita yang terkhilaf. Bahawa keris tersebut telah menjadi rebutan di kemudian hari oleh para kerabat di raja sultan sehingga direkakan cerita supaya tidak lagi dicari orang tertentu termasuk askar dari Majapahit yang menginginkan semula keris tersebut. Perintah itu di peroleh dari Patih Gajah Mada yang ternyata bukan islam.


Pada hari Bentara menyerahkan keris Tamingsari kepada Hang Tuah sebagai ucapan terimakasih kerana akhirnya Tamingsari terbunuh juga sebenarnya mereka tidak tahu bahawa keris itu mempunyai pengaruh besar kepada si pemakainya. Adalah bahawa Tamingsari handal sehandalnya serta kebal pula tubuhnya dari senjata, tidak pernah walau sekali beliau membukakan akan segala rahsianya.


Jika sekiranya mereka menyedari perkara ini pasti keris itu akan jadi milik kerajaan Majapahit itu sendiri di atas sifat keluarbiasaannya. Pada waktu itu jarang sekali diketemukan pahlawan yang kebal tubuhnya tidak lut senjata, amat jarang sekali. pada masa itu juga amat sukar menemui senjata kebal. Jika ada sekalipun pasti mulut tidak senang bicara. Khuatir terlalu banyak perampok. Sedangkan keris Nagasasra dan Sabukinten yang dijaga dengan baik sanggup dirompak orang. Nagasasra Sabukinten adalah salah satu keris yang mewarisi ilmu kebal serta mempunyai sinar pancaran cahaya tiga warna yang amat menakutkan jin segala khadam perang.( sesuai dgn nama kawulo gusti) dan (muhibbah) . Ini adalah khabaran dari alam sana.


Keris Tamingsari tidak berapa kelihatan bila diselitkan dipinggang. Kerana saiznya yang lebih kecil dan pendek dibandingkan ia dengan keris pahlawan pahlawan jawa yang lain.


Hang Tuah telah menerima isyarat kerohanian yang dikenal orang sebagai ilmu firasat batin. Dengan pengetahuan itu beliau sendiri dapat mengenal kesaktian keris yang digenggam erat oleh pahlawan islam siTamingsari. Sehinggalah akhirnya Hang Tuah mengkhabarkan perihal keris itu di Melaka. maka ramai yang menginginkannya.


Khadam keris Tamingsari telah kembali ke tempat asalnya semenjak berada di lain negeri. Kini ia keris itu bersemayam di salah sebuah negeri di Tanah Melayu sehingga tahun 2009. Selepas itu dikhabarkan bahawa keris Tamingsari telah dibawa keluar dari simpanannya dan tercicir katanya sehingga tahun ini ia tidak dikembalikan. Begitu menurut khabarnya.


Maka mereka menambah bahawa keris itu sudah tidak akan kembali lagi kecuali mungkin akan ditemukan orang pilihan tuhan , raja segala raja. Mohon Ampun, Sembah patik harap diampun. Bukan hamba berniat tetapi inilah kebenaran yang patik dengar di sebalik awan mahkota yang merinin. Ampun Tuanku.


Keris puaka itu dahulu menjadi buruan raja dan segala panglima. Maka diserahkan kembali oleh Hang Tuah kepada Sultan kerana itulah rahsia agungnya kota Melaka di zaman Tuah. Hang Tuah lalu berkelana membawa diri. Pertemuannya dengan khidir a.s lebih berharga dari keris Tamingsari...

Wallahu a'lam bissawaab.

E.coli-infected cucumber scare spreads beyond Germany The outbreak has prompted farmers to destroy other vegetables too

Authorities in the Czech Republic and Austria have taken some Spanish-grown cucumbers off store shelves over fears they are contaminated with E.coli.

The move came after illness in Germany caused by infected cucumbers led to at least 10 deaths.

The cucumbers, believed to have been imported from Spain and contaminated with E.coli, left people ill with hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS).

Hundreds of people are said to have fallen sick.

Officials in the Czech Republic said affected cucumbers may also have been exported to Hungary and Luxembourg.

Austria's Agency for Health and Food Safety said some tomatoes and aubergines had also been included in the ban.

Meanwhile a European Union spokesman said two greenhouses in Spain identified as sources had ceased their activities.

They were now being investigated to see whether the contamination occurred there or elsewhere.

'Predominance of women'

The aggressive form of E.coli is known to cause kidney failure and affect the central nervous system.

Most of the cases have been in the area around Hamburg.

The Sweden-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said this outbreak was "one of the largest described of HUS worldwide and the largest ever reported in Germany".

It said: "While HUS cases are usually observed in children under five years of age, in this outbreak 87% are adults, with a clear predominance of women (68%)."

HUS cases have also been reported in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, and linked to German travel.

A scientist from Munster university, Helge Karch, warned that the spread of infection was not over, and secondary infections could be passed from person to person.

Czech authorities said the European Union's rapid warning system had told them of an importation of the cucumbers into the Czech Republic.

Do atmospheric changes before Japan’s big quake indicate predictability?

Image Credit: NASA

Is it time to throw our hats in the air and shout hurrah? Do atmospheric data related to the Japan earthquake indicate a leap forward in our ability to predict earthquakes?

by Deanna Conners

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In the days before March 11, 2011 – when the 9.0-magnitude Tohoku earthquake struck off the coast of Japan – data collected by scientists indicated that Earth’s atmosphere above the earthquake’s epicenter was heating up. The data came from satellite observations showing large increases in electron density and infrared radiation (or heat) emissions above the earthquake’s epicenter on March 8, 2011.

Scientists presented these preliminary results at the annual European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, Austria on April 8, 2011. A story in MIT’s Physics arXiv blog on May 18, 2011 quickly went as viral as one might expect, with 5,000+ Facebook likes and 800+ tweets. It’s exciting because a rise in temperature above an earthquake epicenter in the days before a major eruption has implications for our future ability to predict earthquakes. Is it time to throw our hats in the air and shout hurrah? Do the atmopsheric data related to the March 11 earthquake indicate a leap forward in our ability to predict earthquakes?

Image Credit: NASA

The science of earthquake predictions is still in its infancy. Many scientists doubt that reliable and accurate earthquake predictions are even possible. Presently, scientists are fairly good at predicting where on Earth earthquakes are likely to occur – along the shifting boundaries of moving land plates. But scientists have been unable to determine exactly when an earthquake is going to strike. Hence, efforts to mitigate the destructive impacts of earthquakes are aptly focused on reinforcing vulnerable buildings in earthquake prone areas and ensuring that people in high-risk areas are adequately prepared for a natural disaster.

Still, the lure of earthquake prediction remains appealing despite its elusiveness simply because it could save so many lives. Siesmologist Mike Blanpied of the United States Geological Survey summarized this sentiment in a March 11, 2011 interview with EarthSkywhen he stated:

There [are] increased amounts of data, new theories and powerful computer programs and scientists are using those to explore ways that earthquakes might be predicted in the future. We can certainly hope that someday we’ll be in a world where an earthquake can be anticipated and predicted before it occurs.

The earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011 is likely to be the best studied earthquake in modern history. Scientists from the U.S. and Russia have been busy analyzing the atmospheric conditions above the epicenter of the Tohoku earthquake to evaluate whether there were any precursory events that could have indicated that an earthquake was about to occur. That is how they found the increases in electron density and infrared radiation (or heat) emissions above the earthquake’s epicenter.

The scientists used satellite data to collect information on outgoing long-wave radiation and the electron content of the ionosphere. The ionosphere is the layer of the Earth’s atmosphere that contains a high concentration of charged ions and free electrons, which are able to reflect radio waves. The ionosphere extends from about 80 to 1000 kilometers (50 to 620 miles) above the surface of the Earth.

Layers of the atmosphere. Image credit: Wikipedia.

The scientists discovered that there was a rapid increase of emitted infrared radiation (or heat) on March 8, 2011 near the epicenter, and that radiation levels peaked just prior to the earthquake. The scientists also observed that the total electron content of the ionosphere near the epicenter increased from March 3 to March 10, then returned to background levels after the main earthquake subsided.

According to the scientists, similar atmospheric anomalies have been observed a few days prior to the recent earthquakes in China (magnitude 7.9, 2008), Italy (magnitude 6.3, 2009), Samoa (magnitude 7, 2009), Haiti (magnitude 7.0, 2010) and Chile (magnitude 8.8, 2010).

The scientists attribute these precursory atmospheric events to the phenomena of Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere (LAI) Coupling. During LAI Coupling the air is ionized by the emission of radon and other gases from the Earth’s crust in the vicinity of an active fault. The ionization of air initiates a cascade of other atmospheric reactions including the condensation of water molecules and the release of latent heat, which increases air temperatures.

The preliminary scientific findings about the Great Tohoku earthquake were summarized by Dimitar Ouzounov from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in a paper presented at the annual European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, Austria on April 8, 2011.

While atmospheric anomalies appear to precede and coincide with earthquakes, it is still unclear how accurate and reliable such measures are for predicting earthquakes. Future research to improve our understanding of atmospheric changes that precede earthquakes will likely follow given the important and compelling nature of the scientific findings.

Sultan Muhamad Fateh : Kejayaan Cetus Inspirasi

20 Signs That A Horrific Global Food Crisis Is Coming

In case you haven't noticed, the world is on the verge of a horrific global food crisis. At some point, this crisis will affect you and your family. It may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, but it is going to happen. Crazy weather and horrifying natural disasters have played havoc with agricultural production in many areas of the globe over the past couple of years. Meanwhile, the price of oil has begun to skyrocket.

The entire global economy is predicated on the ability to use massive amounts of inexpensive oil to cheaply produce food and other goods and transport them over vast distances. Without cheap oil the whole game changes. Topsoil is being depleted at a staggering rate and key aquifers all over the world are being drained at an alarming pace. Global food prices are already at an all-time high and they continue to move up aggressively. So what is going to happen to our world when hundreds of millions more people cannot afford to feed themselves?

Most Americans are so accustomed to supermarkets that are absolutely packed to the gills with massive amounts of really inexpensive food that they cannot even imagine that life could be any other way. Unfortunately, that era is ending.

There are all kinds of indications that we are now entering a time when there will not be nearly enough food for everyone in the world. As competition for food supplies increases, food prices are going to go up. In fact, at some point they are going to go way up.

Let's look at some of the key reasons why an increasing number of people believe that a massive food crisis is on the horizon.

The following are 20 signs that a horrific global food crisis is coming....

#1 According to the World Bank, 44 million people around the globe have been pushed into extreme poverty since last June because of rising food prices.

#2 The world is losing topsoil at an astounding rate. In fact, according to Lester Brown, "one third of the world's cropland is losing topsoil faster than new soil is forming through natural processes".

#3 Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is now used for fuel. This is putting a lot of stress on the price of corn.

#4 Due to a lack of water, some countries in the Middle East find themselves forced to almost totally rely on other nations for basic food staples. For example, it is being projected that there will be no more wheat production in Saudi Arabia by the year 2012.

#5 Water tables all over the globe are being depleted at an alarming rate due to "overpumping". According to the World Bank, there are 130 million people in China and 175 million people in India that are being fed with grain with water that is being pumped out of aquifers faster than it can be replaced. So what happens once all of that water is gone?

#6 In the United States, the systematic depletion of the Ogallala Aquifercould eventually turn "America's Breadbasket" back into the "Dust Bowl".

#7 Diseases such as UG99 wheat rust are wiping out increasingly large segments of the world food supply.

#8 The tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis in Japan have rendered vast agricultural areas in that nation unusable. In fact, there are many that believe that eventually a significant portion of northern Japan will be considered to beuninhabitable. Not only that, many are now convinced that the Japanese economy, the third largest economy in the world, is likely to totally collapse as a result of all this.

#9 The price of oil may be the biggest factor on this list. The way that we produce our food is very heavily dependent on oil. The way that we transport our food is very heavily dependent on oil. When you have skyrocketing oil prices, our entire food production system becomes much more expensive. If the price of oil continues to stay high, we are going to see much higher food prices and some forms of food production will no longer make economic sense at all.

#10 At some point the world could experience a very serious fertilizer shortage. According to scientists with the Global Phosphorus Research Initiative, the world is not going to have enough phosphorous to meet agricultural demand in just 30 to 40 years.

#11 Food inflation is already devastating many economies around the globe. For example, India is dealing with an annual food inflation rate of 18 percent.

#12 According to the United Nations, the global price of food reached a new all-time high in February.

#13 According to the World Bank, the global price of food has risen 36% over the past 12 months.

#14 The commodity price of wheat has approximately doubled since last summer.

#15 The commodity price of corn has also about doubled since last summer.

#16 The commodity price of soybeans is up about 50% since last June.

#17 The commodity price of orange juice has doubled since 2009.

#18 There are about 3 billion people around the globe that live on the equivalent of 2 dollars a day or less and the world was already on the verge ofeconomic disaster before this year even began.

#19 2011 has already been one of the craziest years since World War 2. Revolutions have swept across the Middle East, the United States has gotten involved in the civil war in Libya, Europe is on the verge of a financial meltdown and the U.S. dollar is dying. None of this is good news for global food production.

#20 There have been persistent rumors of shortages at some of the biggest suppliers of emergency food in the United States. The following is an excerpt from a recent "special alert" posted on Raiders News Network....

Look around you. Read the headlines. See the largest factories of food, potassium iodide, and other emergency product manufacturers literally closing their online stores and putting up signs like those on Mountain House's Official Website and Thyrosafe's Factory Webpage that explain, due to overwhelming demand, they are shutting down sales for the time being and hope to reopen someday.

So what does all of this mean?

It means that time is short.

For years, many "doom and gloomers" have been yelling and screaming that a food crisis is coming.

Well, up to this point there hasn't been much to get alarmed about. Food prices have started to rise, but the truth is that our stores are still packed to the rafters will gigantic amounts of relatively cheap food.

However, you would have to be an idiot not to see the warning signs. Just look at what happened in Japan after March 11th. Store shelves were cleared out almost instantly.

It isn't going to happen today, and it probably isn't going to happen tomorrow, but at some point a major league food crisis is going to strike.

So what are you and your family going to do then?

You might want to start thinking about that.