FrostyWooldridge's Blog

By Frosty Wooldridge

“Colorado lost 1.6 million acres in the 1990s while it grew by 1.3 million people. It expects to lose 3.1 million more acres to concrete and asphalt via development by 2022.”

                                                       
                                                       
                   Denver Post

In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar defied the Roman senate by crossing the Rubicon River to wage civil war against another Roman--Pompey the Great. By crossing the Rubicon, Caesar made a decision whereby he could not turn back.

Today, “Crossing the Rubicon” means no way to change, repair or undo your destiny. Yes, Caesar conquered Pompey, but the Roman senate, along with Brutus, stabbed Caesar to death. “Et tu Brutus?” Caesar gasped with his last breath.

If the Congress and president sign any kind of an immigration amnesty or jump legal immigration in the near future, they cast the dye; they cross the Rubicon of America’s environmental death knell. They most certainly ensure 100 million more people added to our country that explodes our nation to 400 million on our way to a half billion. Once manifested, we will not be able to turn back.

Mike Matz, writer for the McClatchy-Tribune, December 27, 2007, “Losing Spaces”, said, “We lose four acres of open space each minute in this country. That’s 6,000 acres a day of meadows turned into housing tracts, malls and paved parking lots. That equals 2.19 million acres annually of destroyed wilderness.”

In a crystal clear expose’, “Crossing the Agricultural Rubicon”, Dr. John Tanton, Spring 2005, The Social Contract Quarterly, presented harsh realities regarding America’s food supply.

“We export immense quantities of corn, wheat, soybeans, etc., but much of this crop is fed to animals or processed into food that we then re-import as higher-value agricultural products,” Tanton said. “It is the dollar value of imports that is projected to be equal to exports for 2005.”

He continued, “The U.S. consumes two-thirds of its own grown food. As population grows, more agricultural land will be converted to non-agricultural uses—roads, hospitals, schools, parking lots, shopping malls and housing projects. Our expanding population will cause us to import more food. The net result will be the gradual decline of our agricultural trade surpluses. We are already in energy deficit as we import 12 million of the 20 millions barrels of oil we burn each day. Now we have a diminishing agricultural exchange surplus with which to buy fuel to facilitate that very agriculture.”

The United States feeds the world, but as Tanton exposes in his excellent graphs and charts, we already import as much as we export: “We won’t feed people around the world much longer,” Tanton said.

For example, Colorado’s population will add 1.5 million by 2022. That increase means, according to the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post, that 3.1 million acres of prime farm land suffer development into homes, roads, malls, schools and business parks.

Another aspect of this “Agricultural Rubicon” manifests itself in Eric Schlosser’s “FAST FOOD NATION” where he exposes the chemicalization of our foods by hundreds of additives, colors, preservatives and poisons like the chemical sweetener aspartame.

Since 1950, farmers have sprayed their crops with herbicides and pesticides while injecting soils with dozens of chemical fertilizers that destroy nitrogen fixing bacteria and poison earthworms, bees and birds into early graves. Today, we force genetically modified seeds to produce unnatural harvests while we clone many vegetables and create perfect apples.

In conjunction with fertilizers draining into rivers which poison fish we eat, farm land absorbs acid rain from chemical contaminants raining down from the sky from tens of thousands of industrial smoke stacks spewing sulfur, ammonia, incinerated plastics, mercury and other toxic amalgamations into the air.

If you think our government tells the unvarnished truth, think again.

In a recent report by Lester Brown, publisher of “State of the World”, he notes that farming causes the loss of 26 billion tons of topsoil annually worldwide. Once soils suffer depletion, chemical fertilizers may allow crops to grow, but a consumer may as well be eating cotton candy for the lack of micro-nutrient value in foods.

Dr. David Pimentel, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, says if we think growing huge amounts of corn for ethanol fuel provides an option, we need to think that over.

He writes: “Our up-to-date analysis of the 14 energy inputs that typically go into corn production and the nine invested in fermentation and distillation operations confirms that 29 percent more energy (derived from fossil fuels) is required to produce a gallon of corn ethanol than is contained in the ethanol. Ethanol from cellulosic biomass is worse: with current technology, 50 percent more energy is required to produce a gallon than the product can deliver. In any event, biomass ethanol is a bad choice from an energy standpoint.

“The environmental impacts of corn ethanol are enormous. They include severe soil erosion, heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides, and a significant contribution to global warming. In addition, each gallon of ethanol requires 1,700 gallons of water (to grow the corn) and produces six to 12 gallons of noxious organic effluent.

“Using food crops, such as corn grain, to produce ethanol also raises major ethical concerns. More than 3.7 billion humans in the world are currently malnourished, so the need for grains and other foods is critical. Growing crops to provide fuel squanders resources. Energy conservation and development of renewable energy sources, such as solar cells and solar-based methanol synthesis, should be given priority.”

Remember: for each American added to the United States, 12.6 acres of land must be developed. That’s 1.26 billion acres of land used up that can’t produce food. Experts tell us that by 2040, we’ll be a net importer of food.

Our country heads into dangerous waters. Have you heard the expression, “Up the creek without a paddle?” Whether it’s “Crossing the Rubicon” of agricultural destruction of our food supply, or using up our oil reserves without sufficient alternatives, or exceeding our carrying capacity as to water—we’re overpopulating our nation into grave consequences.

##

Take action: www.numbersusa.com ; www.thesocialcontract.com ; www.fairus.org ; www.frostywooldridge.com