Lester R' Brown, Plan B 3'0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization New York: W'W' Norton and Company, Eart

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Lester R. Brown, Plan B 3.0 Mobilizing to Save
Civilization (New York W.W. Norton and Company,
Earth Policy Institute, 2008)
4. Emerging Water Shortages 5. Natural Systems
Under Stress    6. Early Signs of Decline     
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Lester R. Brown,
4. Emerging Water Shortages
The global water deficit is the result of demand
tripling over the last half century. The link
between water and food is strong. As water tables
fall, the energy required for pumping
rises. Lakes are disappearing on every continent
and for the same reasons excessive diversion of
water from rivers and overpumping of aquifers. It
takes 1000 tons of water to grow 1 ton of wheat
worth 200. It takes 4533 gallons of water to
grow 2700 cal to feed you one day. Although
spreading water shortages are intimidating, we
have the technology needed to raise water use
efficiency, thus buying time to stabilize
population size.
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5. Natural Systems Under Stress
Lester R. Brown,
Where ever the land is, the health of the people
cannot be separated from the health of the land
itself. Lowdermilk noted about the Middle East,
here erosion had done its worst.if the soils
had remained, even though the cities were
destroyed and the populations dispersed, the area
might he re-peopled again and the citys rebuilt,
but now that the soils are gone all is gone. The
thin layer of topsoil that covers the planets
land surface is the foundation of
civilization. Accelerating soil erosion or the
last century can be seen in the dust bowls that
form as vegetation is destroyed and wind erosion
soars out of control. Twentieth-Century
population growth has pushed agriculture onto
highly vulnerable land in many countries. Desertif
ication is the process of converting productive
land to wasteland through overuse and
mismanagement.
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6. Early Signs of Decline
Lester R. Brown,
Hunger is the most visible face of poverty. As
with illiteracy, ill health and poverty are
closely linked. Everyone on the planet shares
this body burden of toxic chemicals, but
infants are at greater risk because they are in
the highly vulnerable formative stage of early
development. Access to land is a prime source of
social tension. Expanding world population has
cut the grain land per person in half, from 0.23
ha in 1950 to 0.10 ha in 2007. ( 0.247 ac or 104
ft x 104 ft area) As the health of the land
deteriorated, so did health of the people
dependent on it. Advancing deserts are also
displacing people, squeezing expanding
populations into an ever smaller geographic
area. In an age of increasing globalization and
economic integration, the functioning of the
global system and thus the well-being of
individual states depends on a cooperative
network of functioning nation states.
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The thin layer of topsoil that covers the
planets land surface is the foundation of
civilization. This soil, typically six inches or
so deep, was formed over long stretches of
geological time as new soil formation exceeded
the natural rate of erosion. As soil accumulated
over the eons, it provided a medium in which
plants could grow. In turn, plants protect the
soil from erosion. Human activity is disrupting
this relationship.
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Water erosion also takes a toll on soils. This
can be seen in the silting of reservoirs and in
muddy, silt-laden rivers flowing into the sea.
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Earth Surface Area
Entire Planet 510.0x106 sq km. 100 Oceans
361.0x106 sq km. 71 Continents
148.9x106 sq km. 29
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Total Land area 148.9 million km2 100
deserts, wastelands, urban areas, ice-covered
41.5
forests (including savannas) 27.1
pasture and rangeland 21.8
croplands 14.4 million km2 9.6
croplands 1.44 billion hectares (3.56 billion
acres)
With 6.7 billion people (1/1/2008)
0.22 ha/person (0.55 acre/person)
http//home.alltel.net/bsundquist1/la2.html
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Soil Is a Precious Resource Imagine earth as an
apple. Slice the apple into four quarters ¾ is
water and ¼ is land Take that ¼ that is land and
slice it in half 1/8 is inhospitable to people
(i.e. polar ice caps, mountains, etc.) 1/8 is
land that people can live on Take that 1/8 of
land and slice it in half 1/16 is too cold, too
wet, too rocky, or too dry to grow food 1/16
could produce food for humans and animals Take
that 1/16 and slice it in half 1/32 is covered
in highways, houses, buildings and other
manufactured structures 1/32 is all that is
left to grow food, right? Wrong!!! Carefully cut
the peel off the 1/32 section. This represents
the surface of the earth and is all the soil that
is used to grow crops and food for humans and
animals. This thin peeling is what supports the
approximately 6.7 billion people on earth. This
thin peeling is a diminishing, precious resource
that must be conserved.
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Is this a sustainable way to use crop biomass?
C
?
A nation that destroys its soil, destroys
itself. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937
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View the plant as carbon!
( 45 C)
Plant Power Carbon capture Carbon storage Energy
storage Food source Energy source Soil carbon
input Environmental benefits Quality of Life
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Agronomists and Resources!
Photosynthesis
Sun
Water
Energy Capture
Energy Use
Agronomists
Respiration
Air
Soil
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Ecosystem Services
Sun
Air
Our Resources
Water
Soil
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Carbon is the C that starts Conservation!
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Natures Interdependent Tri-Cycles Water,
Carbon, Nitrogen,
Carbon is the Lord of the Rings.
H2O
N
Mg
Cu
Mn
K
P
Ca
Zn
Na
Bo
S
Cl
Mo
Fe
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Carby Carbon
CO2
CO2
Keep your carbon footprint small!
CO2
CO2
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