Loading ...I just saw that the San Francisco supervisors are reviewing the report by their Peak Oil commission this week.
As hinted at by the report, one of the biggest issues that will happen when oil becomes scarcer (eventually inevitable because fossil fuel is a finite resource, there were a finite number of historical beings to decompose into oil) is that essentially all of the “food” now available to American consumers is actually petroleum energy converted into food, and thus when oil is scare we will not be capable, with our current system, of growing enough food.
This is as opposed to pre-industrial food, which was grown from soil that was full of the energy of live microorganisms. Now, farmed soil is dead, and the energy in the food comes from petroleum-derived fertilizer which is added to the crops. This includes all the corn, soybeans and wheat that are used to make all the food in the center of the grocery store and are fed to the animals in the meat section; as well as all the produce and now, more and more, the fish that’s being sold (which are being farmed with the corn and soy derivatives).
Obviously this will prove to be a big problem when we humans start being able to extract less oil than we need to power our world — we’ll have to grow food using the old methods again or starve. (One imagines there could be plenty of starving if we start the transition only after we run short of oil.)
But more immediately, it brings to mind the question, who would want to eat food that is just reconstituted petroleum? I think if people widely knew that this is the only thing they are eating, there’d be a lot of change right away.
Clearly our society’s complete reliance on petroleum-derived food has to be part of the national health-care epidemic, as food made from oil has clearly got to be a lot less healthful than food made by living microorganisms (the food we evolved to eat). I’m sure the crazy surge of “Western diseases” such as diabetes and obesity-related illnesses is just starting to ramp up.
This oil-as-food reality is not just true in the stores but also in 99.9% of prepared food including what’s served at restaurants and bars. Even (or maybe especially) most fancy, expensive restaurants, including some that trumpet their belief in organic food or Slow Food are making their dishes from food which is reconstituted petroleum.
Here at the Linkery, on the other hand, we’re working hard to buy and make post-petroleum food. Grass-fed, pastured animals is a place where we’re doing it, as are the locally farmed bivalves (which can help restore the marine habitat) and wild fish from the local fisheries (at least until Hubbs-SeaWorld starts farming fish offshore, feeding them soybeans and potentially destroying the local fish population with CAFO pathogens). Our produce from La Milpa Organica and Wingshadows Hacienda, along with many of our other farms, is grown by farmers who carefully keep life in their soil through rotations, compost, and having animals and crops on the same farm. Most of our sugar is organic, figuring that even dessert will be more wholesome if it’s made from living food rather than long-dead chemicals.
Not everything here is beyond petroleum, yet. For instance, I don’t think there’s a wide enough selection of organic beer and wine (where the corn or grapes are sure to not be infused with petroleum fertilizer) at multiple prices that would could serve only that at quality approaching what we have now. And we still rely on a small amount of conventional produce, and not all of our pork farmers have moved to feeding their animals only organic feed, and we haven’t yet (but we will over the next few orders) converted to using mostly organic flours. However, it’s just a matter of time until we’re almost completely post-petroleum. Either we’ll do it ourselves, or the realities of supply and demand, when the finite resource becomes scarce, will do it for all of us.
Fortunately, food made from living things tastes better, is more energizing to eat, and brings us together with great people who farm and make it. So this whole exercise is, in the end, a rediscovery of the truly good life.
Something I’ve been wondering about, in the context of California agriculture in particular, is the energy cost of water in oil terms. During the 2001 power crisis, for instance, I remember reading news reports that they’d prevented rolling blackouts by *turning off the pumps on the California aqueduct*. Not for very long, but still. Eek. Choosing between water and power — I get the same kind of heebie-jeebies when I read about turning oil-based foods into biofuels. But anyway, where does San Diego (and its local agriculture in particular) get its water, and what (if any) energy costs are involved? (Note to me: go research if it would be possible to power the CA aqueduct with Central Valley sunshine.) Also, sorry for geeking out on you. Thank you for all the delicious inspiration for living and especially eating better.
Hi Tracy,
I believe San Diego gets most of its municipal water from the lower Colorado River, not from the Calfornia Aqueduct. Also I think some of our water comes from the series of reservoirs in the County, and some private water comes from wells (I know that’s how Wingshadows Hacienda farms in Warner Springs).
I don’t know the energy costs involved in getting the Colorado River water. I imagine the local reservoir/dams have a positive net power, and I know that Wingshadows Hacienda’s well, for instance, is all solar powered. So that is possible.