The truth is, suspending the 18.4¢ federal excise tax on gasoline does nothing. Hillary Clinton and John McCain, two long-time Washington insiders, think that suspending this tax will provide relief to motorists. What it does is pander to voters. And when you are faced with a supply problem, in the long run that does not make sense.
Here’s another part of the problem we are facing, from today’s NY Times: Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer.
Fertilizer is plant food, a combination of nutrients added to soil to help plants grow. The three most important are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The latter two have long been available. But nitrogen in a form that plants can absorb is scarce, and the lack of it led to low crop yields for centuries.
That limitation ended in the early 20th century with the invention of a procedure, now primarily fueled by natural gas, that draws chemically inert nitrogen from the air and converts it into a usable form.
Natural gas faces the same sort of peak that oil has. As we run out of oil, we’ll be running out of natural gas, too. And we depend on natural gas, not just for heat and energy, but to create the nitrogen-rich fertilizer which helps farmers feed the population of the world.
“This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people,” said Norman Borlaug, an American scientist who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his role in spreading intensive agricultural practices to poor countries. “Without chemical fertilizer, forget it. The game is over.”
Clinton and McCain are offering the equivalent of a discount on the last few games of shuffleboard on the Titanic. Theirs is not much of a bargain.
The White House comes down on Obama’s side on this one. President Bush feels that “tax holidays and new levies on oil companies would not address the long-term problems of dependence on foreign oil.”
In Europe my mothers family owns farms and a winery. You know what they use for fertilizer, cow manure , pig manure, chicken pellets. How do I know this, well basically when I go back to visit, I roll up my sleeves and pitch in. I could go on but I would bore you. Basically their farming the old way and have been for years and it works. Perhaps America needs to get back to the basics.
I totally understand what your saying about “Peak Oil” and do see your point of view, but what’s the solution?
The great thing about America is it’s a participatory democracy and not “spectators only” democracy. I’m hopeful someone will change the way lots of pressing issues of today are dealt with. If this is not to be….well I guess my family and I will be knee deep in manure, literally. If you and your loved ones can handle a pitch fork, friends are always welcome aboard!
FYI thanks for posting the Obama segment. He is that someone. I knew it in 2004 and I know it today….I needed that clip.
And thanks for your blog, it’s really a good forum. Even though sometimes I just want to jump on your soapbox and scream “YANKEES” . Please don’t mention the losses.
Thanks for the article and bringing to “surface” some real issues ahead of us …………I am obviously referring to the nitrogen in the soil and the natural gas found in the belly of our earth!
Juventus makes a good point in the first comment……………I am inclined to push the point further by saying that soon there may not be a choice for folks in the United States but to go back to the basics, who knows it may not be such a bad thing after all!!
Shortage of nitrogen as a fertilizer in the soil and shortage of natural gas does take me down memory lane where our 6th grade science teacher took us on a trip to a village to learn about the challenges of the village life and how local farmers cope with the advancements in the western world by developing indigenous methods of their own!!
To enhance the nitrogen in the soil a good old practice in many parts of the world is to alternate a crop of legumes with the desired crop such as wheat, rice and other staple. Some of the plants in the legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae) include crop species such as pea, alfalfa, clover, common bean, peanut and lentils. The good news is that not only are legumes known to increase the nitrogen content in the soil but also provide the financial sustainability for the farmer.
Picking up on the other topic of concern i.e. the shortage of natural gas…….another third world tested solution for natural gas-typically sourced from fossil fuels is “Bio gas”. This is essentially methane gas collected from a bio-gas tank made designed for the digestion of liquid or suspended- solid waste such as cow manure.
Oh! writing this down does feel good………..to know that my memory is still dependable, secondly knowing that there is still hope in some of our old tried and tested methods in life.
Politics is not my inclination right now as I do not have the luxury of time……….I have to make sure I learn as many tried and test methods of the olden days as I can!!