2NC---Solvency---Laundry List

IGP Network, 2017, The University College London is London’s leading disciplinary university and utilizes a progressive approach to teaching and research, our world leading academics, curious students and outstanding staff continually pursue excellence, break boundaries and make an impact on real world problems.. (“Social prosperity for the future: A proposal for Universal Basic Services”, UCL, 2017, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/igp/sites/bartlett/files/universal_basic_services_-_the_institute_for_global_prosperity_.pdf, 7-20-2023)//AAlmand

Exploring UBS Modelling Basic Services Shelter For Shelter we use the widely accepted remedy of adding significantly to the existing stock of social housing. We model doubling the existing social housing stock by funding the building of 1.5 million new social housing units using 30 year Treasuries at current market rates. The new units would be offered on a needs basis at zero rent. All social housing would be exempted from Council Tax, and include a utilities allowance. With a 7 year building schedule the costs start at £6.1bn and finalise at £13bn from the 7th year onwards. Food To alleviate food insecurity in the UK we use the FSA survey results from 2016 as the basis for a Food service that would provide one third of the meals for the 2.2 million households (8%) deemed to experience food insecurity each year. This would add to existing programs such as free school meals and meals on wheels, providing 1.8 billion meals at a cost of £4bn/year. Transport For Transport we examine extending the existing Freedom Pass (currently for citizens over the age of 60) to everyone for bus services. The objective being to provide access to free local public transport services that enable citizens and residents access to jobs, education, health care and participate fully in their community – all of which are currently under threat. Assuming an increase in use of 260% the cost would be £5bn/year. Information To promote digital inclusion the Information service covers the cost of basic phone, Internet and the BBC TV license fee. The objective being to enable access to work opportunities and other services, as well as participation in our democracy as informed citizens. This is the most expensive service we considered with an annual budget of £20bn, however it also delivers universal value across all income groups and keeps all citizens connected in our increasingly digital world.

Extinction—war, famine, and governmental collapse

Julian Cribb, 5-19-2020, Julian Cribb is an Australian author and science communicator. (“Is a Food Crisis the Next Big Hit for Humanity?”, MAHB, 5-19-2020, https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/is-a-food-crisis-the-next-big-hit-for-humanity/, 7-21-2023)//AAlmand

The reason that a food crisis is far more serious than either the coronavirus or its economic meltdown, is that the death toll is generally far larger. More than 200 million people have died in various famines over the last century and a half, and many of those famines led to civil wars, international wars, and governmental collapses. That is why we need to pay attention now – before a new global food crisis arises. Not brush it aside, as so many inept world leaders have done with the virus. “Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apart” The Spanish have a well-learned saying that “Lo que separa la civilización de la anarquía son solo siete comidas (5).” The French and Russian Revolutions both arose out of famines. WWII arose partly out of Hitler’s desire to capture Soviet farmlands in order to avoid another WWI famine in Germany. Many modern African wars are over food or the means to produce it. The Syrian civil war began with a climate-driven food crisis. Indeed, there is growing evidence that lack of food plays a catalytic role in around two-thirds of contemporary armed conflicts. As US former president Jimmy Carter has observed: “Hungry people are not peaceful people (6).” Food failures bring down governments and cause states to fail. In 2012 a drought in Russia and the Ukraine forced them to cut grain supplies to Egypt and Libya – where governments promptly fell to popular revolutions. It was a strange echo of history: in the third century, a combination of climate change and a pandemic caused a failure in grain supplies from North Africa, an economic crash and, ultimately, the end of the Roman Empire. While there is ‘no need to panic’ over food, there is a very clear and urgent need for plans to forestall major shortages around the world. Yet, there is very little evidence that governments worldwide are preparing to head off a food crisis, other than to reassure their citizens, Trumplike, that there isn’t a problem. However, lack of trust by citizens in their governments has already prompted a global rush to stock up on staple foods which has ‘upended’ the vulnerable ‘just-in-time’ food delivery system in many countries (7). Cities are not prepared to feed themselves. What to do? Over four billion people now inhabit the world’s great cities – and not one of those cities can feed itself. Not even close. None of them are prepared for catastrophic failure in fragile modern food chains, on which they are totally reliant. It would appear almost nobody has even dreamed of such a thing. We are sleepwalking into something far larger and far more deadly than coronavirus. The delicate web of modern civilization is fraying. What is to be done? The short answers are: Introduce emergency urban food stocks Compulsory reduction of food waste at all points Prepare for WWII-style rationing if needed Pay farmers a fair return Increase school meals programs and food aid to the poor Encourage local food production and urban food gardens Develop a global emergency food aid network as a priority Reinvent food on a three-tier global model encompassing: regenerative farming, urban food production (and recycling), accelerated deep ocean aquaculture, and algae culture. There are few crises that cannot be avoided with careful forward planning, including the ten catastrophic risks now facing humanity as a whole (8). It is time we, as a species, learned to think ahead better than we do, and not listen to those who cry “no more bad news, please”. They only lead us into further crisis.