Soil and Peak Food.
In David R. Montgomery’s brilliant book,”Dirt, The Erosion of Civilizations”, he explains the effect of poor soil management on past civilizations and the likely effect on our own. Excerpts from the last page should be read by anyone worried about our future:
“As much as climare change, the demand for food will be a major driver of global environmental change throughout the coming decades. Over the past century, the effects of long-term soil erosion were masked by bringing new land under cultivation and developing fertilizers, pesticides, and crop verieties that compensate for declining soil productivity. Coupled with the inevitable end of fossil-fuel-derived fertilisers, the ongoing loss of cropland and soil poses the problem of feeding a growing population from a shrinking land base. Whereas the effects of soil erosion can be temporarily offset with fertilizers and in some cases irrigation, the long-term productivity of the land cannot be maintained in the face of reduced soil organic matter, depleted soil biota, and thinning soil that so far have characterized industrial agriculture.
“Many factors may contribute to ending a civilization, but an adequate supply of fertile soil is necessary to sustain one. Using up the soil and moving on to new land will not be a viable option for future generations. As odd as it may sound, civilization’s survival depends on treating soil as an investment, as a valuable inheritance rather than a commodity – as something other than dirt.”
The Selfish Generation
Future generations will surely look back in astonishment and horror when they consider what our generation did for them.
They will see how we burned the once and for all endowment of fossil fuels with no thought for efficiency and conservation, leaving them short of oil for essential needs.
That excessive use, along with rain forest destruction will have changed the climate so much that extreme weather and rising sea levels will have caused food production to be far below that needed to feed the 8 billion or more after 2025.
Our massive consumption of goods and energy will mean that many resources, even uranium, will be scarce and expensive. Water for irrigation and human needs will be short as we have depleted the ancient aquifers as if there were no tomorrow.
Previous generations who started the destruction, could claim that they did not understand the consequences of their action. We know all too well, but prefer to continue, because we do not want to give up our any of fossil fuel enabled prosperity.
But now, especially in countries like the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland, we are leaving them massive debt, running in to many thousands of pounds for every man, woman and child, making life even more difficult.
What a legacy.
Rebecca Hoskins – A Farm for the Future
The recent documentary on BBC2 by Rebecca Hoskins was very informative about the way farming and food is dependent on finite fossil fuel. The interview with Richard Heinberg was excellent as he was able to explain how perilous the situation is and how urgent is the need for sustainable solutions.
Rebecca’s conclusion that we would have to eat less meat would be hard to argue against, but the other ideas of year round grazing and permaculture do not seem to me to be the way to feed 6.7 billion mainly city dwellers when oil becomes scarce.
Instead we need a system where we can efficiently utilise both the seed and the straw in cereal and oilseed crops in a way that does not damage the soil, so that agriculture can produce enough food but also enough biofuel for it’s own energy needs.
We believe that harvesting the whole, ripe crop unseparated and then processing it at a bio refinery may be part of the solution.
Buy Famine in the West Printed Book £6.49 +pp
Buy Famine in the West Ebook £2.99
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