energy and food security

"the number of horses needed for transportation and the amount of land needed to feed them was also becoming a problem. by 1800 the horse tax was paid for 1.35 million animals in england, a number which required an estimated 5.4 million acres of agricultural land for feed- some 14 percent of the entire area of england and a much higher percentage of the agricultural land." warren johnson "muddling toward frugality: a new social logic for a sustainable world"_____________________________________________________"...they noted that 14 percent of the entire u.s.corn harvest was used in 2005 to produce less than 4 billion gallons of ethanol. this is equivalent to only 1.7 percent of gasoline use, and they also found that 1.5 percent of the soy harvest produced 68 million gallons of biodiesel, or less than 0.1 percent of diesel demand. thus on a gallon-for-gallon basis, even with a relatively optimistic energy return estimate, they concluded that 'dedicating all u.s. corn and soybean production to biofuels would meet only 12% of gasoline demand and 6% of diesel demand.' "brian tokar "biofuels and the global food crisis" citing a university of minnesota study._____________________________________________________the english found themselves strapped for energy as the returns on horsepower diminished as they needed to devote increasing amounts of agriculture to their support. they used the resource substitution method and used coal coupled with rapidly developing steam engines to create a railroad system...that technology was transferred wholesale to this country and it flourished in both until further refinements in the technological use of fossil fuels sent them int decline. with those refined sources now showing definite signs of a finite supply the technology is humming away again and cropland seems destined to become an energy source for transport as opposed to humans...even though this will be the source of widespread social discontent ( although, admittedly, there does seem to be some backpedaling on the issue by the epa...not by the national corn growers' association however...they are remarkable pro ethanol in transport )...much of the "arab spring" that seems to have gone wrong from the perspective of many people can be tied to a sharp rise in food prices brought on by biofules and climate change ( deniers may stop reading here...this will not support your world view )...all this movement of agriculture towards the energy sector put some renewed emphasis on civic agriculture and what the community garden represents..food security will be a growing issue and the more we learn about how to grow food together and share it out the more secure our communities will be...when leadership fails ( and my belief that the "system" is headed up a blind alley is well documented )you have to lead yourselves...food is a basic need and as such should be a basic right..our communities and our own abilities are the best assurance of that right i can think of...so let's get out in the garden...there's lots of work to do.