[Homestead] Green Revolution was: Reduction Emissions Project

Don Bowen don.bowen at earthlink.net
Mon Jun 18 20:20:46 EDT 2007


At 6/18/2007, you wrote:
>The main reason, you've heard this spiel before, is that since the "green
>revolution" we've been merely converting oil into food, which is the same 
>thing
>as saying we've been converting oil into people.

The so called "Green Revolution" was about developing hybrids that put most 
of their energy into seeds then planting those hybrids in monoculture 
fields.  Those monocultures needed massive amounts of nitrogen fertilizer, 
made from Natural Gas, and water, pumped by fossil fuels.  They also needed 
herbicides and pesticides, both made from more Natural Gas.  And finally 
they need massive inputs of capital to purchase the seeds, fertilizers, 
herbicides, insecticides, and machinery to plant and harvest.

There are many unintended (or unintended as the case may be) side affects, 
more farmers were forced off marginal plots into towns to become the raw 
labor for industrialization.  Shorter stem crops left little for animal 
bedding and forage making keeping animals more expensive and reducing 
animal manures as a fertilizer source.  Dependence on a much smaller choice 
of foods as machinery does best with a single purpose use.  Herbicides are 
killing the weeds along side the fields which were a significant portion of 
a summer diet which in turn leads to vitamin deficiencies.  The proposed 
cure?  GMO "Yellow Rice", another expensive seed requiring even more inputs.

It has been suggested by Richard Heildberg that in an oil less future the 
earth's population will have to settle to around 1 billion.  Burland (sp?) 
is called the father of the Green Revolution in the early 50s.  He said at 
the time that unless we control world population his efforts would be wasted.



Don Bowen              Awl Knotted Up                       KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com
My travel journal
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html

I am omnivagant.  


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