Essentials Become Rationed

You eat what the system allows, at the price it imposes.

Grocery bill doubled since 2020. Meat up 60%. Vegetables up 45%. Grains up 50%. Dairy up 40%. Not temporary inflation. Permanent repricing. Food production costs rose structurally, fertilizer tripled, diesel doubled, water scarce, labor expensive, climate disrupting yields. These costs don't decrease. They compound.

Fertilizer requires natural gas. Natural gas expensive permanently. Russia restricted supply. Europe scrambled. Prices spiked. Never returned to baseline. Farmers pay more. Pass costs forward. You pay at checkout. Can't refuse. Need food.

Netherlands forced farmers off land. Nitrogen compliance. Emissions targets. Climate justification. Actually cost reduction disguised as environmental policy. Farming unprofitable at mandated emission levels. Government buys land at distressed prices. Converts to nature preserves or sells to developers. Food production decreases. Imports increase. Prices rise.

Sri Lanka banned synthetic fertilizer 2021. Organic farming mandated. Yields collapsed 50%. Famine. Government fell. Reversal too late. Damage done. Pakistan attempted similar policy. Yields dropped. Reversed quickly but crop losses permanent that season.

Pattern emerging, environmental regulations make farming uneconomical. Farmers exit. Production declines. Imports increase. Food security decreases. Prices rise. Population eats less or eats cheaper substitutes.

Meat becoming luxury. Environmental groups pressure governments. Carbon taxes on livestock. Methane penalties. Land use restrictions. Each regulation increases cost. Beef price doubles, then triples. You eat chicken instead. Chicken prices rise, same pressures apply. You eat processed plant protein instead. Cheaper. Subsidized. Lab-grown. Insect-based. Marketed as "sustainable choice." Actually only affordable choice.

Government nudges consumption through pricing. Want meat? Pay premium. Want traditional protein? Pay tax. Want local produce? Pay markup. Cheap food is processed, subsidized, engineered. Expensive food is natural, unsubsidized, traditional. Class division through diet. Wealthy eat real food. You eat optimization byproducts.

Rationing coming. Not announced as rationing. Implemented through carbon quotas. Each citizen allocated emission allowance. Food purchases count toward quota. Exceeded allowance, prices spike. Buy too much meat, pay penalty rate. Digital currency enforces this automatically. Transaction blocked when quota exceeded. "Insufficient carbon credits."

Energy repricing simultaneously. Fossil fuels depleting. Renewables insufficient. Nuclear blocked politically. Gap widening. Prices rising permanently. Heating costs doubled. Cooling costs tripled. Transport costs quadrupled. Electricity intermittent, brownouts during peak demand, curtailment during low production.

Smart meters installed. Track usage hourly. Surge pricing implemented. Peak hours cost triple. Off-peak hours cheaper. You adjust schedule around electricity availability. Shower at midnight when rates drop. Cook dinner 3 AM. Charge devices during surplus solar production. Become servant to grid rather than grid serving you.

Winter heating rationed. Temperature limits enforced. Thermostat controlled remotely. Cannot exceed 18 degrees Celsius. Elderly freeze. Children sick constantly. You wear layers indoors. Sleep under multiple blankets. Government claims emergency measures. Actually permanent condition. Energy insufficient for previous comfort levels. Population must adjust.

Industry gets priority. Residential users get remainder. Factories operate. Homes brownout. This is optimization. Economic output matters. Your comfort doesn't. Blackouts scheduled. Announced day before. Two hours evening, four hours overnight. Food spoils in freezer. Work from home impossible. You adapt or suffer.

Fuel expensive permanently. Cannot afford commute. Cannot afford road trip. Cannot afford heating full-time. Budget carefully. Choose between warmth and food. Between transport and electricity. Between comfort and solvency. Previous generation had all three. You choose one.

Climate disruptions accelerate regardless of cause. Droughts intensify. Floods increase. Growing seasons shift. Yields unpredictable. France wine harvest fails, frost in May. India wheat harvest collapses, heat wave in March. American Midwest flooding destroys corn crop. Each event isolated. Combined effects compound. Food prices spike globally. Shortages emerge. Hoarding begins. Government implements purchase limits.

You're allowed two packages pasta weekly. One package rice. Three cans beans. Limits enforced at checkout. Digital ID scans. Tracks purchases. Exceeded limit, transaction denied. You visit multiple stores to circumvent. Stores coordinate data. You're flagged. Account restricted. Now you're rationed below normal limit. Punishment for attempting to circumvent.

Black markets emerge. Always do during rationing. Someone knows farmer. Pays cash. Gets unreported product. Sells at markup. You can't afford markup. Can't access black market without connections. Eat what ration permits. Lose weight. Children hungry. Wife stressed. Family deteriorating nutritionally.

Wealthy unaffected. They buy premium unrestricted. Carbon quotas don't matter when you're rich, just pay the premium. Energy costs don't matter, own solar panels and battery storage. Food costs don't matter, shop at specialty stores with inventory that never rations. They eat steak while you eat processed protein. They heat homes to 22 degrees while you shiver at 16. They drive freely while you ride failing public transit.

This is resource repricing. From abundance to scarcity. From choice to allocation. From market to rationing. From autonomy to dependence.

You eat what's available at controlled price. Heat when permitted. Travel when affordable. Consume within quota. Question nothing. Comply completely. Alternative is cold and hungry.

System calls this "sustainable living." Actually managed decline. Previous consumption levels unsustainable with current production capacity. Population must decrease consumption. Can't decrease voluntarily, requires coercion. Coercion implemented through price and rationing. You comply because you must.

Energy expensive. Food expensive. Both rationed eventually. You adjust to less. Call it sacrifice. System calls it optimization. Either way, you're colder, hungrier, poorer.