[annie]

2nd of March, 2006 Introduction to Eating Fossil Fuels

Eating Fossil Fuels is due out in fall of 2006, from New Society Publishers. Here is the complete introduction from the book.

The Green Revolution, which began in the 1960's, did not cure world hunger. But it did transform food production into an industry, and allow for the consolidation of small farms into what have become the large agribiz corporations. While the abundance of cheap food did nothing to alleviate world hunger, it allowed the human population to grow far in excess of the planet's carrying capacity. continued.. link

[Magus]

Indeed. A return to sustainable horiculture that does not involve fossil fuels is what will be needed in the future after collapse is over.

[Raxozanne]

I have the feeling that this book will have the ability to really scare the S out of people when they realise the message it's trying to convey.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Raxozanne', 'I') have the feeling that this book will have the ability to really scare the S out of people when they realise the message it's trying to convey.

[dooberheim]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('annie', 'T')he Green Revolution, which began in the 1960's, did not cure world hunger.

[Revi]

I lived in one of those low tech nations where most people practiced agriculture. It may not be so great. The people in the villages are pretty much maxed out on how much they can take from the land. The forests were being cut to grow corn. Millions of people moved to Guatemala City where a world economy sustained them in desperate slums called barrancos. They suffer when the price of oil goes up. Some will try to move back to the village their grandparents moved out of. They will put additional pressure on an already strained village economy.

We went to visit a guy who moved from the small village I lived in and become a cop in Guate City. He lived with his family in one room. They had a TV they watched while sitting on the bed. There was a tiny kitchen in one corner. They used a common latrine and got water from a spigot in the middle of the compound. This is a working person's lot in that country. The really poor people collect things from the dump and sell them. There will be less and less to pick from.

[Bandidoz]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Fossil-F ... 59-7325442

In this 100-or-so page book, Dale summarises the position modern Agriculture is in today, how it is already providing diminishing returns, and how fossil fuel depletion will hasten its departure. There are a few "F**king hell" moments.

The Introduction outlines the Green Revolution with its effects on soil, hunger, population and how it is utterly dependent on the availability of cheap fossil fuels.

Chapter 1, "Food = Energy + Nutrients", outlines how fossil fuels were created, and how humans developed from hunter-gatherering to agriculture.
The laws of Thermodynamics and Entropy are presented, the Green Revolution is revisited, indicating the energy inputs, and how it's already failing.

Chapter 2, "Land Degradation", describes how soil naturally replenishes its nutrients, and just how quickly this is being undermined by erosion,
with the knock-on effect of having to apply ever more pesticides and fertiliser.

Chapter 3, "Water Degradation", describes how modern agriculture is overdrafting rivers and aquifiers, with details regarding how much water is needed to feed a few different crops. Pollution from pesticides and fertiliser is also mentioned.

Chapter 4, "Eating Fossil Fuels", summarises a few studies undertaken to estimate the fossil energy inputs to provide food energy.
Studies of food toxicology is also described, for instance some foods are imported from countries where "banned" pesticides are still in use.
Food miles is described, as well as how the globalisation of food is leading to the spread of disease.

Chapter 5, "The End of the Oil Age", describes Peak Oil and the Natural Gas Cliff.

Chapter 6, "The Collapse of Agriculture", describes how industrial agriculture has been pushed to the limit and how it will fail to continue to feed the world by 2050, and how fossil fuel depletion will accelerate the coming crisis.
A model of how bad it could be is demonstrated with a description of the collapse of North Korea's industrial agriculture following the crash of the USSR.
Particular emphasis is given on how power failures and a lack of spare machinery parts contributed to a series of positive feedback loops which has created a series of humanitarian disasters.

Chapter 7, "The Next 'Green Revolution': Cuba's Agricultural Miracle" describes how Cuba responded to the USSR crash. Cuba was fortunate to have well educated scientists who had already developed Agroecology, a sustainable Organic farming system. Details are given of how the Cuban government embraced their methods and restructured the farms into smaller units to be compatible with the new methods. Urban gardens are also described as being a further, unplanned, response from individuals.

Chapter 8, "Building A Sustainable Agriculture", outlines how agriculture should be relocalised, supported by Urban food production, with a closed-loop approach to replenish nutrients. The difference between the effects of the USSR crash and the fossil fuel rate of depletion is covered with an optimistic view.

Chapter 9, "Twelve Fun Activities for Activists", outlines how grass-roots efforts should be attempted to engage with communities.

14 pages of resources follow, and 14 pages of source-material references.


This book is suitable for use as an introduction to the subjects covered. It should be read by everyone involved in agriculture, and every MP.

Chapters 6 and 7 are arguably the best parts of the book with a fair amount of detail on how a sudden collapse of industry and fossil fuels affected two different countries in arguably the worst way and the best way. The book would be better if it featured flow diagrams illustrating the flows of all of the agricultural system's inputs and outputs. Chapter 4 should have provided some of the detail from the referenced studies.

Rating : 4 out of 5.