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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] What will we eat as the oil runs out?
  • Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 09:56:02 -0700


What will we eat as the oil runs out?
http://www.feasta.org/events/foodconf/food_conference.htm
Feasta is planning a major international conference [on "Food
Security
in an Energy-Scarce World"] to be held on June 23rd, 24th & 25th,
2005, at the Faculty of Agri-Food and the Environment, University
College Dublin, Ireland.

The systems that produce the world's food supply are heavily
dependent
on fossil fuels. Vast amounts of oil and gas are used as raw
materials
and energy in the manufacture of fertilisers and pesticides, and as
cheap and readily available energy at all stages of food production;
from planting, irrigation, feeding and harvesting, through to
processing, distribution and packaging.

In addition, fossil fuels are essential in the construction and the
repair of equipment and infrastructure needed to facilitate this
industry, including farm machinery, processing facilities, storage,
ships, trucks and roads. The industrial food supply system is one of
the biggest consumers of fossil fuels and one of the greatest
producers of greenhouse gasses.

At Risk From Global Warming

Ironically, the food industry is at serious risk from global warming
caused by these greenhouse gases, through the disruption of the
predictable climactic cycles on which agriculture depends. But global
warming can have the more pronounced and immediate effect of
exacerbating existing environmental threats to agriculture, many of
which are caused by industrial agriculture itself.

Environmental degradation, water shortages, salination, soil erosion,
pests, disease and desertification all pose serious threats to our
food supply, and are made worse by climate change. But many of the
conventional ways used to overcome these environmental problems
further increase the consumption of finite oil and gas reserves. Thus
the cycle of oil dependence and environmental degradation continues.

Industrial agriculture and the systems of food supply are also
responsible for the erosion of communities throughout the world. This
social degradation is compounded by trade rules and policies, by the
profit driven mindset of the industry, and by the lack of knowledge
of
the faults of the current systems and the possibilities of
alternatives.

But the globalisation and corporate control that seriously threaten
society and the stability of our environment are only possible
because
cheap energy is used to replace labour and allows the distance
between
producer and consumer to be extended.

Peak Oil

However, this is set to change. Oil output is expected to peak in the
next few years and thereafter steadily decline. We have a very poor
understanding of how the extreme fluctuations in the availability and
cost of both oil and natural gas will affect the global food supply
systems, and how they will be able to adapt to the decreasing
availability of energy. In the near future environmental threats will
combine with energy scarcity to cause significant food shortages and
sharp increases in prices - at the very least.

We are about to enter an era where we will have to once again feed
the
world with limited use of fossil fuels. But do we have enough time,
knowledge, money, energy and political power to make this massive
transformation to our food systems when they are already threatened
by
significant environmental stresses and increasing corporate control?

This conference will explore the nature of the threats to world food
security, examine our global food supply systems, evaluate the
possible solutions to the problems that we face, and will seek to
answer a crucial question:

How can the world's population be fed without the extensive use
of
fossil fuels in the production, processing and distribution of food?


Topics of this three day conference will include:

Day One - Food Under Threat
- the threats to the security of the global food supply
- the relationship between food and fossil fuels
- the structures and origins of the agriculture and food industries
- how should food systems be evaluated?

Day Two - Solutions To Reduce Fossil Fuel Use
- Does the conventional agriculture industry offer any solutions?
- Is organic farming enough?
- Is the location of production more important than the methods used?
- Who should control our food supply systems?

Day Three - Precedents and Possibilities
- holistic approaches to food production
- from fossil fuel dependence to low carbon food systems
- sustainable, productive and culturally supportive farm systems
- allotments, urban agriculture and community supported agriculture
- fisheries and aquaculture
- control, policy and education
- the Irish and EU context

For more detailed information about the conference program see the
program page or contact us at food@feasta.org

This conference is being organised by Feasta, the Foundation for the
Economics of Sustainability in association with the Department of
Environmental Resource Management at the Faculty of Agri-Food and the
Environment, University College Dublin.


[Highlights from from the conference program page:]

DAY ONE (Thursday 23 June, 2005)
...
16:00 Conference Carbon Footprint
Estimation of fossil fuel used in the production of the food served
at
the conference, and comparison of total conference carbon footprint
(including transportation) to fossil fuel use in other areas of Irish
society.

16:20 Low Carbon vs. High Carbon Food
Introducing method(s) of evaluating different food supply systems
that
deal with total fossil fuel use.

16:45 Food as a Solutions Multiplier
Presentation of idea that by concentrating on creating sustainable
food supply systems, many other environmental, social and economic
problems can be reduced or resolved in the process.
...

DAY TWO (Friday 24 June, 2005)
...
14:00 3. IS 'WHERE' A MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE THAN 'HOW'?

Presentations and panel discussion about the possibilities of fossil
fuel reduction through changes to infrastructure and land-use
patterns. Topics to be discussed include:

Localisation
Establishing farmers markets, Community Shared Agriculture, food box
distribution systems, and other methods of supplying fresh local food
in season, in order to reduce fossil fuel use for processing,
packaging, refrigeration and transport, while reducing waste and
strengthening local farmers, communities and economies.

Nutrient Cycles
Changing infrastructure, land use and settlement patterns to focus on
nutrient cycles, and a corresponding reduction of food miles, in
order
to reduce energy consumption, waste and environmental destruction.

Urban/Peri-Urban Agriculture
Producing substantial amounts of food in close proximity to areas of
high population, in order to reduce fossil fuel use, make use of
underused space and concentration of 'wastes', while moderating the
local climate.

16:15 4. WHO SHOULD CONTROL WHAT WE EAT?

Presentations and panel discussion about the possibilities of fossil
fuel reduction through societal changes and policy reform. Topics to
be discussed include:

Self Production
Providing land/space, education and encouragement for people
throughout the world to grow even a portion of their own food, could
be one of the most dramatic steps towards a sustainable and secure
food supply system.

Resource Ownership and Taxation
Changing systems of ownership and taxation of land, water, nutrients
etc., so that scarce resources are conserved, environmental damage is
reduced and resources are available to those who need them.





  • [Livingontheland] What will we eat as the oil runs out?, Tradingpost, 02/25/2005

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