Letter on agriculture

One thing I am curious about is why you don't address the topic of food
production, distribution, and consumption. Our increasingly
industrialized agricultural system is completely dependent on fossil
fuels- from clearing the land to planting the crops, using fertilizers and
pesticides, and transporting goods 1,000s of miles across the country (and
world). We're destroying valuable land and decreasing biodiversity at the
same time that we increase our emissions.

I wrote a paper on this topic last fall, speaking mainly to the New York
region, but taking into account the effects of climate change on
agriculture throughout the world. The predictions are that global warming
will move prime food production zones northward, and that the increase in
climate variability will make seeding/harvesting schedules difficult to
plan. Increased pests and changes in precipitation patterns, among other
items, will complicate the picture.

Basically our centralized and industrialized system is going to go
bankrupt if Mother Nature does all of the things scientists are expecting.
If you seriously hope to reduce carbon emmissions by 90% in the next few
decades, you must address the issue of food. Local, organic food
(sustainable farming) is a MUST. While I'm a big fan of your EAT Greens
plan, I think it should actually include the problem of EATing!

Here's something I wrote about the conversion from our current form of
agriculture to a more sustainable method:

The process of converting to practices of sustainable agriculture must be
a gradual one, and there are steps that individual farms may take in
converting to more sustainable production methods. For example, low- or
no-tillage practices increase carbon sequestration potential, and maintain
high nutrient and organic content levels in the soil. Reducing soil
tillage also cuts back on fossil fuel needs as there is no need for a
tracker to till the fields. Farming techniques that reduce erosion are
also useful in promoting carbon sequestration and maintaining soil health.
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a design-based system that
incorporates knowledge about local plants and pests, and plans the farm so
that pest damage is more or less self-controlled. Increasing tree growth
on and around the farm is a useful way to improve farm efficiency as well
as sequester carbon, as natural forests are able to store between 20-40
times more carbon than most crops. Other practices such as drip
irrigation methods, crop rotations, and using legumes as natural nitrogen
fixers all help maintain crop productivity and buffer the negative affects
of climate change. In addition to these, changing crop varieties or
species may become a necessary way of coping with changes in temperature,
precipitation, water availability, and soil condition. Creating and
supporting local foods systems will also help decrease the need for fossil
fuel input in the production and distribution of foods in New York.

My thoughts aren't completely organized on this, but I hope you have the
time to consider these ideas and incorporate them into your proposal.
Fixing Energy, Architecture, and Transportation is wonderful, but there is
something else that we need to survive, and that is Food, which is as
intimately linked to the problems of fossil fuels as the first three.

Take care,

Chris Friemuth