Eating Fossil Fuels: The Food System

Summary: Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture
This reading was about our dependency and consumption of oil and other natural energy resources as a human race. It discusses how oil is an issue for countries all over the world, and is often so expensive that it causes massive damage to an economy. This passage also perdicts the collapse of our current system of agriculture as it is entirely dependent on industrial goods that consume fossil fuels. North Korea is the main example used, as their agricultural economy has collapsed because of their thirst for oil and heavy consumption of natural resources. Their example is a model that heads as a warning to other countries to not take advantage of what they have, as it might backfire on them in the end.

Terms:
Hydrocarbons: an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon.
Liquid Natural Gas: natural gas, mostly methane that is liquifyed so it can be easily stored and transported.

Discussion:
How have fossil fuels added to the dangerously vulnerable situation of modern agriculture?
They have aided the destruction of our enviornment, and industralization has fueled the need to harvest more and more fossil fuels even though our natural supply is running low. The more fossil fuels we produce, the more we damage our land and ruin the ability of plants and crops to grow.
What lessons, if any, can the US learn from North Korea's agricultural collapse? Not to exploit our natural resources to the point of destruction of our land, which will cause our economy to collapse.
Questions: When did humanity really start exploiting oil resources?
When industralization took off in the early 1800's.

Who accurately predicted when the United States' dependence on oil would peak? When was this?
A petroleum geologist named Dr. M. King Hubbert. He perdicted that american oil dependence would peak in 1970.
What is an example of a widely used product that comes from natural gas?
Artificial fertilizers used in agriculture are produced by the hydrocarbons that come from natural gas.