Eating Fossil Fuels

I seemed to have combined the homeworks, but here is my summary with some additions:

The article from Eating Fossil Fuels, Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture touched base on a few topics concerning fossil fuels. Predicting where the peak oil point was attempted by Dr. King Hubbert, saying that it would peak in the 1970’s, and he was able to calculate this because of his experience in developing production curves. His estimate was correct, and it has been on the decline since. Finding reliable and available data is possible, like through Petroconsultants, but other organizations like USGS have not provided realistic data. Because we are at the peak production point, instead of finding locations abundant with oil, many smaller pockets have been tapped into to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, demand has remained high, and the supply is being depleted. The use of natural gas is possible, being that it’s less costly, but the decline rate is much faster than that of oil, at “five to ten percent, compared to oil’s two or three percent” (36). Also, agriculture has had its own detrimental effects, but fossil fuels have only furthered the problem. In North Korea, they experienced a shortage in hydrocarbons and fuels because they depended on the Soviet Union for their supply. They saw several declines in markets, and the agricultural collapse correlated with the petroleum decline. Because they didn’t have access to the fuels needed, crops suffered. They didn’t have the adequate amounts of fertilizer to continue growth, and amounts of fuels used for agriculture went from 120,000 tons of diesel fuel per year down to 25,000-35,000 tons (46). The DPRK’s collapse poses as a model for what can be affected by an energy crisis, and is something we should seek and implement alternatives as soon as possible.

Our dependence on fossil fuels to power our agricultural system for production makes us very vulnerable. If any element of the power needed is gone, then the entire system compromise. As we discussed in class for a bit today, we’ve lost the knowledge and skillsets vital to producing and growing without such an intense reliance on fossil fuels (fertilizers, electricity, machinery, etc). Until these skills can be re-learned and practiced, we’re putting ourselves in a fragile position.

The DPRK model is an actual event that should be ringing louder in our society’s ears. The results of their energy crisis can help us plan ahead better so if this should happen (which at this rate we’re looking at our own energy crisis in the face) we can avoid some of the problematic situations they experienced.