Oil and Agriculture
Ripe for Change Deluxe Edition • 4m 41s
Journalist, educator, and author, Richard Heinberg, illuminates one of the central conflicts in California agriculture – the tension between industrialized, conventional agriculture that is a leading user of fossil fuels and sustainable agriculture that stresses use of local products and decreased dependence on fossil fuels. As an Energy resources specialist, Heinberg, shows how the number of calories that go into conventional production of an English muffin – from growing wheat to transportation to using the toaster – far exceed the food energy derived from the muffin. Other commentators in this segment, including Miguel Altieri, Ph.D., professor of agroecology at the University of California, Berkeley, highlight the difficult choices consumers must face if California is to move toward building a sustainable farming systems.
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