Civilizations used to rely on slave labor to run, but now we rely on hydrocarbons. We also greatly depend on oil. During the 1950s, a geologist called M. King Hubbert predicted that oil production would peak in the 70s. Though he was mocked for this, he was right. More recent predictions say we will begin our "irreversible decline" around this year, 2010. However, the USGS say that won't happen until 2020 at the earliest, but this is flawed. Even if it is 2010 or 2020, that's really scary because obviously 2010 is here, and 2020 isn't too far behind. Reading the last paragraph before the Natural Gas Cliff part was terrifying. It was a huge reality shock about what is going to happen to us when the oil runs out.
Natural gas is a main component to agriculture. However, it still takes quite a lot of energy to extract and it isn't easy.
The Collapse of Agriculture
We have exhausted the prime areas for agriculture, so biological diversity has "been diminished nearly to its breaking point." This brings up the question, can the earth even sustain us and our large population anymore? According to the text, the world's population is presumed to double by 2050. What the article says next is shocking. At that point, there won't be enough land per person to support them, which will lead to the US ceasing to export food, which will lead to starvation. To help this decrease, what we can do is stop wasting so much. For instance, using manure from the farm animals as fertilizer instead of waste.
The DPRK went through a disastrous time when their agriculture collapsed because they no longer got imports of oil form other countries. When this happened, it devastated the country. For a long time, homes didn't even have heating in the winter, even hospitals. Starvation was not uncommon; people would even eat bark and grass, and soldiers were "nothing more than skin and bones." Because of this severe malnutrition, disease spread quickly throughout the country. Also, because there is no fuel to boil water, water borne illnesses are prevalent. The only means of recovery the DPRK has been able to experience is from outside sources.
Vocab
espoused- adopt or support a cause or belief or a way of life
exosomatic- In human thermodynamics, exosomatic energy, as contrasted with endosomatic energy (bodily metabolism), is the useful energy throughput outside human bodies.
Questions
A. We have come to rely on fossil fuels like crazy, and as a result we are exhausting our resources. This also means we are running out of land to farm on, and our population is increasing rapidly every day. This is going to cause a major, major problem because we are going to get to the point where the earth can no longer sustain our huge population. When this happens, there is going to be mass starvation and many deaths. We couldn't be more vulnerable.
B. The US could definitely learn something from the agricultural collapse in North Korea. At that point, NK had heavily depended on oil. When they could no longer obtain it, everything fell apart. To make matters worse, during that crisis, they got struck with numerous natural disasters, which also wiped out their top soil. Starvation was also very real. The US needs to look at what happened there and realize that's exactly what will happen here when we run out of oil.
My Questions
1. How could the US survive if something like the agricultural collapse of the DPRK happened here?
2. Wiping out half of the population with some sort of disease in this day and age is unlikely, and I'm hoping to God some sort of genocide won't ever take place to do so. This being said, how can the earth sustain us if we double our population? Will that mean it's finally the end?
3. Are you as scared as I am about this now?
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