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  • From: Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Green Revolution was: Reduction Emissions Project
  • Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:20:46 -0700

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
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http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html

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From mmcharry AT gmail.com Mon Jun 18 20:44:53 2007
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On 6/18/07, Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net> wrote:
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.

I think you may be thinking of Norman Borlaugh.

Marie




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