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Old 07-16-2013, 01:33 PM   #862 (permalink)
NeilBlanchard
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Since we are not factoring in the real costs of fossil fuels, using oil (and coal and gas) is a massive economic bubble. We are "churning" stuff for short term profits, and finding out the hard way that there is no "away" into which we can throw out all the crap we buy.

The Story of Stuff Project

We cannot continue to have factory farming, either. Pouring chemical fertilizer (made from natural gas) onto the soil literally kills off the natural composting processes that build up the soil. The result is erosion - and the 6 FEET of soil in the great plains here in the USA is largely all gone. All that water soluble nitrogen runs off in the first rain, which poisons the water. Combine this with all the silt that causes a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico - and then the nitrogen ends up as nitrous oxide, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. It eventually breaks down - and becomes carbon dioxide.

This nitrous oxide is about 25% of the GHG that we humans produce.

Add to this all the over-pumping of the deep aquifers, and the need to transport this food to the people who eat it, and we have a very large challenge on our hands.

We need to employ people right in our cities and towns, and grow all our food locally, and we get to eat everything in season. It is far more nutritious and tastes much better and we would be far more healthy. We would stop ingesting growth hormones and antibiotics and we would not be using GMO's, either.

http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

Full employment, better food, much lower carbon footprint, better health, save huge amounts of water - there are only good things that come from this!
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