What happens to our food when the oil runs out? (UK Soil Assoc.)

[jpak]

http://www.energybulletin.net/19160.html

During our lifetime most of us have enjoyed – even taken for granted – the benefits of 'cheap' oil. Peak Oil refers to the point when the maximum amount of oil that can be extracted globally is reached. Thereafter, production will tail off as remaining reserves become more difficult and more expensive to harvest.

Having looked into this issue in depth, the Soil Association is convinced that in the very near future (perhaps as soon as 5 to 7 years' time), all our lives will be changed significantly by this reduced availability and affordability of oil.

After the peak oil year – which could be as soon as 2008 - the price of oil is likely to rise dramatically. Putting it graphically, 'Imagine having a taxi meter in your car. Try tripling the fare and then see what happens!'

By 2021, it has been estimated that we will have to adjust to a supply of just 50% of today's volumes. Under that scenario, many of the services that we currently take for granted - cheap flights, cheap imports and global distribution of food - will be radically curtailed.

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[corkhead]

1. Our planes and tractors will run on switchgrass

[Dissenting_Prole]

3. And what will we run on?

Would you rather eat, fly or drive?

Those are going to be the choices we have to make in another 10 years. Choose carefully.

[jpak]

4. Eat switchgrass????

If I had four stomachs and some hefty molars, that might be an option.

:evilgrin:

In all seriousness...

In the near term, it will be a choice between using natural gas for food production and using natural gas for heat and electricity.

Gever J., Kaufmann R, Skole D, Vorosmarty C (1991) Beyond Oil: the threat to food and fuel in the coming decades. Complex Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire. University of Colorado Press.

Every effort should be made to transition US agriculture to a post-Peak Oil and Gas paradigm before the crisis hits...

[dipsydoodle]

2. At the rate at which things are going

we might just run out of "climate" first.x(

[brokensymmetry]

5. It's called a die-off.

And it's coming to a neighborhood near each of us.

Oil shortages will lead to food shortages and famine.
Disease prospers during famine. And so billions will die.

Meantime, the more affluent nations and individuals will
maintain some semblance of an energy-rich lifestyle by using
biofuels.

Not so different than the present, in some ways...if you're one
of the affluent.

And not so different than the present, for those currently
enduring ongoing famine. They tend to remain invisible, except
on those rare occassions when the media make them a cause for
a week or so.

I didn't say any of this was right or good. Merely that it
is and will be.

[Odin2005]

6. 2 words: ALGAL BIODEISEL