Ok, things are proceeding slow on the Electronic Music Festival front. People are being bad about returning emails/calls. So I'm going to more aggressively try to get ahold of some people this Thursday. Hopefully I'll have something good to announce soon.
In other news, I have some depressing/frightening reading for everyone.
First, here is a link about Peak Oil. Read it. It's truly frightening stuff.
This is a related link about why civilization may not be able to climb back up out of the stone age after a collapse, essentially because we've already used such a large amount of the natural resources to create our industrial society.
I've been reading Against the Grain, How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization, by Richard Manning. Here's a review. It's in a similar vein and should be read along with Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Here's a quote:
"The effects of modern industrial agriculture range from pesticide pollution to freshwater depletion, energy consumption, erosion, and salinization. We can, nevertheless, trace the Green Revolution's swath across the planet, especially in marine systems, by focusing on a single element-- nitrogen. Nitrogen figures in problems as diverse as red tides, fish kills, marine mammal deaths, shellfish poisoning, loss of seagrass habitat, destruction of coral reefs, and acid rain. Beginning in about 1950, the use of nitrogen fertilizer balloned from less that five million tons annually worldwide to about eighty million tons today..."
In essence, a massive economy of scale has developed for agriculture. See ADM and other megacorporations. This is not a good thing. This is a bad thing. The vast majority of humanity is dependent for their food supply upon food grown using an industrialized process. Should that process break down for some reason, like if our oil supply falters or dries up, then we're all screwed.
The one thing that this Peak Oil stuff fails to take into account is the existence of Black Ops technologies, which undoubtedly exist. The real question is the nature of this hidden technology. It's sad when you're hoping and praying for the Men in Black, essentially, to save your butt. But that's the place we find ourselves at.
That's all for now. Class dismissed.
In other news, I have some depressing/frightening reading for everyone.
First, here is a link about Peak Oil. Read it. It's truly frightening stuff.
This is a related link about why civilization may not be able to climb back up out of the stone age after a collapse, essentially because we've already used such a large amount of the natural resources to create our industrial society.
I've been reading Against the Grain, How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization, by Richard Manning. Here's a review. It's in a similar vein and should be read along with Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Here's a quote:
"The effects of modern industrial agriculture range from pesticide pollution to freshwater depletion, energy consumption, erosion, and salinization. We can, nevertheless, trace the Green Revolution's swath across the planet, especially in marine systems, by focusing on a single element-- nitrogen. Nitrogen figures in problems as diverse as red tides, fish kills, marine mammal deaths, shellfish poisoning, loss of seagrass habitat, destruction of coral reefs, and acid rain. Beginning in about 1950, the use of nitrogen fertilizer balloned from less that five million tons annually worldwide to about eighty million tons today..."
In essence, a massive economy of scale has developed for agriculture. See ADM and other megacorporations. This is not a good thing. This is a bad thing. The vast majority of humanity is dependent for their food supply upon food grown using an industrialized process. Should that process break down for some reason, like if our oil supply falters or dries up, then we're all screwed.
The one thing that this Peak Oil stuff fails to take into account is the existence of Black Ops technologies, which undoubtedly exist. The real question is the nature of this hidden technology. It's sad when you're hoping and praying for the Men in Black, essentially, to save your butt. But that's the place we find ourselves at.
That's all for now. Class dismissed.
posted by Peter at 11:56 PM
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