PrintFeed People or Kill Our Waterways: The Real Omnivore's Dilemma?
A piece in the New York Times today (part of the brilliant, groundbreaking Food Chain series that looks like it's being positioned for the Pulitzer Prize) explains in crystal-clear fashion how the high cost of fertilizer and its limited supply are contributing mightily to both the high cost of food in general and the devastating food shortages in many parts of the world.
Because certain kinds of fertilizer containing nitrogen create dead zones where rivers meet the sea and kill marine life, environmentalists are demanding changes that will limit the use of chemical fertilizer. Recently a United Nations panel recommended that farmers use increased crop rotation with legumes because legumes are natural nitrogen carriers.
Other folks, including Norman Borlag, "an American scientist who was awarded a Nobel Peace Price in 1970 for his role in spreading intensive agricultural practices to poor countries," say "changes like 'increased crop rotation won't begin to produce enough crops to meet the world's rising demand for food and biofuel.'" Borlaug told the Times, "This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people. Without chemical fertilizers, forget it. The game is over."
What Would Michael Pollan Do?
So what would someone like Michael Pollan or Alice Waters say about this profound dilemma—producing enough food for the world or protecting our marine life and saving our waterways?
Pollan in his recent book In Defense of Food talks about how we and other people around the world should eat less meat, and that by doing so there would be less pressure on grain supplies, which are used to fatten animals. This increase in worldwide meat consumption combined with the rising production of biofuels has translated into rising fertilizer demand, high fertilizer prices, and not enough fertilizer to go around.
So can we feed the world's burgeoning population affordably, well, and sustainably without endangering our environment? That, serious eaters, is the trillion dollar question, with millions of lives hanging in the balance.
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5 Comments:
Your comment about the rivers reminded me of the time (actually there was more than one time) that the Cuyahoga River caught on fire from the stuff floating on top of it from factory dumping.
I remember seeing that river as a child, shortly before it caught on fire. Day-Glo green stuff like Silly Putty was all over the surface, sitting there just like so much vomit.
The shores of Lake Erie at that time were also littered with dead fish from pollution.
That situation was turned around. Though it did take time.
Karen Resta at 10:42AM on 04/30/08
I have been very scared about this dilemma ever since I read Michael Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma this last year. We have been living on borrowed time since Fritz Haber invented artificial nitrogen fixing. As Michael mentions,
(Vaclav Smil) estimates that two of every five humans on earth today would not be alive if not for Fritz Haber's invention... as these numbers suggest, humans may have struck a Faustian bargain with nature when Fritz Haber gave us the power to fix nitrogen.
I feel the same about this situation as I do with our involvement in Iraq. There is no pretty way out.
pmagnus at 11:50AM on 04/30/08
Sorry the above comment should have had quotes for the passage from Michael's book.
"(Vaclav Smil) estimates that two of every five humans on earth today would not be alive if not for Fritz Haber's invention... as these numbers suggest, humans may have struck a Faustian bargain with nature when Fritz Haber gave us the power to fix nitrogen."
pmagnus at 11:58AM on 04/30/08
I just watched "King Corn" and that has really been at the forefront of my mind. It seems that one of the options is to return to grass-fed pasturing of animals. Even the feed-lot owner on the documentary stated that if there was a demand for grass-fed beef, they'd find a way to do it. His point though was that people want cheap beef, and feed lots and corn are the cheap way out. People don't want to pay the premium associated with the better quality beef.
The trick is to convince Americans that they want to spend more money on food, and then demand the better quality for their top dollar.
ErikaWaz at 12:16PM on 04/30/08
I imagine many people were horrified, and predicted the demise of civilization (had there been such a thing) when man first used fire!
Luddites were with us long before Ned Ludd was born, and will no doubt be with us forever, despite their own dire predictions.
srhcb at 6:21PM on 04/30/08