There is commotion in Israel about the wave of price increases, of water, housing, gasoline, and food. The problem is global. The yearly price of oil reached a record high in 2010. Food prices have been increasing fast since last Summer. There is a relationship between the two: The modern production of food is heavily dependent on fossil energy, and part of the agricultural produce is diverted to the production of biofuels.
This is not some temporary phenomenon that will go as it came. Fossil fuels are a finite resource, and this resource is depleting. Remains of ocean life were deposited at the bottom of the sea in the course of hundreds of millions of years, and were ultimately captured in the Earth's crust. The easily accessible part of these captured fossil remains is no longer enough to satisfy mankind's growing demand for fuel.
I write this after corresponding with a rabbi (among my readers) who optimistically denied the geological/biological genesis of oil. This rabbi came to his position because he thinks that Jews must believe that the Earth is less than 6,000 years old. It is important to know. Ignorance leads to falsehood, and to mistaken expectations.
It seems inevitable that the shortage of fossil fuels will increase critically in the coming year. This means that food prices will keep rising. Expect social unrest allover the planet.
