So education also leads to more responsible family planning, and therefore sustainable population growth and improved environmental conditions. Now, in the U.S. and the rest of the industrialized world, this and other development ideas are often met with resistance from isolationist forces who like to portray international development as a waste of public money or some kind of global welfare. In addition to being moral imperatives, they are in our self-interest as well. In today's global village, with the nations of the world so closely linked, deprivation and hunger in Bangladesh or Ethiopia hit closer to home than ever before. For one thing, international development is an investment that brings a considerable return, in the form of robust trading partners, a growing consumer class eager to shop in the global marketplace.
International development is also sound foreign policy.
For example, food shortages have historically been a major source of armed conflict around the globe. So promoting food security advances American national security interests by promoting peace and stability in the less stable regions of the world. I want to close with a story that I think illustrates the importance of food in international development. It's a story about a young boy who visits a submarine and has the opportunity to meet the captain. He was very curious, this boy, and fascinated with the submarine's ability to stay underwater for so long.