permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>]

John & Maia O'Brien wrote:
> I would like to see the references.
> Do any come from Cuba's "special period" experience?
All the data come from the US, but thanks for mentioning Cuba. Cuba's 
ability to feed itself with little oil is the shining indicator that 
food is not the problem some think it is. Cuba also had a very abrupt 
transition, and the transition for much of the world will most likely be 
more gradual, so perhaps less stressful than Cuba's. To my knowledge, 
Cuba is the only nation to face a near-complete loss of oil, and they 
did it successfully. So one could say, with only a little statistical 
chicanery, that 100% of the nations that have faced a major oil 
shortfall have made it through successfully. Take that, doomers!

references:
10% of US oil used for food system:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/FoodReview/DEC2002/frvol25i3a.pdf

Cornell foodshed research:
http://crops.confex.com/crops/viewHandout.cgi?uploadid=226

H.T. Odum emergy data for food vs. electricity, banking, etc:
Odum, Howard T. "A Prosperous Way Down"

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com