Party's Over
"Cheap oil is the party that we have been enjoying for the past 150 years."
The first four minutes are just an introduction given by the interviewer that can be skipped. LISTEN. This is so interesting. Pollan is talking about the future of food in America. I don't know how to make this sound fascinating, but it is. Pollan talks about how we cannot make great strides in health care, poverty, education, and more without coming back to this issue of food. He's talking about very important, urgent, and relevant information.
What is happening right now in this country in regards to farming is insanity. We're setting our self up for disaster. The price of oil will not stay low forever. It is low right now because we decided to get our oil from Canada's tar sands. When the oil prices go back up, it will be a permanent trend and eventually it will become impossibly expensive for these national food catering and supply companies to ship oranges from Florida to Nevada, to ship water from Maine to Texas, to load up trucks with produce in California everyday for restaurants in New York City...
And then what? And then we are stuck.
Michael Pollan
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
This movie is AMAZING.
Here is the trailer:
"No amount of solar, wind, or even nuclear energy is going to allow us to continue this way of life."
We have to change. We have to. People have to change.
In 1989, the Soviet Union collapsed, (among other things)causing massive energy shortages in Cuba.Food, goods, services, everything came to a halt. So what did Cuba do to feed its citizens. Castro created a enourmously successful sustainable agriculture system. He radically changed not only the daily practices of food production and consumption, but also how production and consumption are thought about.
Why is our food made hundreds of miles away? Why? It's incredibly idiotic. When I watched this clip and learned about the urban gardens in Cuba, I was blown away. Why isn't America learning? Imagine if all of your food was organically and locally grown? Imagine how much we would save in fuel costs if you could walk to your local market or it was only a ten minute ride instead of a 3 hour flight. Until this year, I was unaware that fertilizers are petroleum (oil) based, and all pesticides are petroleum (oil) based. Due to the large-scale, monocropping (farming that involves growing only one crop, such as corn), our soils are depleted of nutrients. You need a rich variety of plants to keep the soil fertile and to allow for you to continue to farm the same land over and over. We don't do that. Instead we plant one crop. Spraying it was petroleum. Harvest. The soil is empty. Load it up with more petroleum. And plant again until we can no longer farm that area because it has been stripped bare. (And don't forget we're eating this petroleum.) America has is so backward! We are a nation with so. many. resources... and we throw this knowledge and overwhelming potential for change away.
The first four minutes are just an introduction given by the interviewer that can be skipped. LISTEN. This is so interesting. Pollan is talking about the future of food in America. I don't know how to make this sound fascinating, but it is. Pollan talks about how we cannot make great strides in health care, poverty, education, and more without coming back to this issue of food. He's talking about very important, urgent, and relevant information.
What is happening right now in this country in regards to farming is insanity. We're setting our self up for disaster. The price of oil will not stay low forever. It is low right now because we decided to get our oil from Canada's tar sands. When the oil prices go back up, it will be a permanent trend and eventually it will become impossibly expensive for these national food catering and supply companies to ship oranges from Florida to Nevada, to ship water from Maine to Texas, to load up trucks with produce in California everyday for restaurants in New York City...
And then what? And then we are stuck.
Michael Pollan
Click to viewThe End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
This movie is AMAZING.
Here is the trailer:
"No amount of solar, wind, or even nuclear energy is going to allow us to continue this way of life."
We have to change. We have to. People have to change.
In 1989, the Soviet Union collapsed, (among other things)causing massive energy shortages in Cuba.Food, goods, services, everything came to a halt. So what did Cuba do to feed its citizens. Castro created a enourmously successful sustainable agriculture system. He radically changed not only the daily practices of food production and consumption, but also how production and consumption are thought about.
Why is our food made hundreds of miles away? Why? It's incredibly idiotic. When I watched this clip and learned about the urban gardens in Cuba, I was blown away. Why isn't America learning? Imagine if all of your food was organically and locally grown? Imagine how much we would save in fuel costs if you could walk to your local market or it was only a ten minute ride instead of a 3 hour flight. Until this year, I was unaware that fertilizers are petroleum (oil) based, and all pesticides are petroleum (oil) based. Due to the large-scale, monocropping (farming that involves growing only one crop, such as corn), our soils are depleted of nutrients. You need a rich variety of plants to keep the soil fertile and to allow for you to continue to farm the same land over and over. We don't do that. Instead we plant one crop. Spraying it was petroleum. Harvest. The soil is empty. Load it up with more petroleum. And plant again until we can no longer farm that area because it has been stripped bare. (And don't forget we're eating this petroleum.) America has is so backward! We are a nation with so. many. resources... and we throw this knowledge and overwhelming potential for change away.