More Frustration

Here is the article I reference. It is a good one, I fully agree with the content.

I read an article today written about the drought in the corn belt of the USA and Canada. It was nothing that I didn't know about before. The fact is that mono-culture of a high input annual is not sustainable. The article talks about farmers wanting more and more money from the government for assistance for their failing crops. I agree these poor farmers are heavily invested in this system and only make ends meet with subsidies from the federal government(in America anyways), and can barely meet the pressure to grow more bushels per acre to increase their yields, which also drives the price down, giving the advantage to agribusiness, the chemical companies, seed companies and processed food producers. The farmers are "stuck" in the middle of these entities, with high debt loads, unable to see outside the box and make changes to the way they use the land. Hundreds of acres of corn that needs countless liters of water and petro chemical fertilizer to maintain the crop. The aquifer of fossil water that is under this part of the continent has been pumped to the point that it can no longer recharge itself with the steadily decreasing rainfall. Rainfall decreasing because low  ground water creates a desert like dry zone, with no water available for evaporation to create clouds and rain. Algae blooms in the Gulf of Mexico are making square kilometers of dead zones that are so oxygen depleated, directly because of the nitrogen draining into the Mississippi River off the corn and soy fields.

What I am getting at is that these farmers need to quit the mono-culture system now. The topsoil is being blown away and is nutrient deficient. Corn is a hungry critter, it needs to feed heavily if it is to produce. Using fossil fuel to feed corn to create so-called sustainable fuel is completely ridiculous. Only the government could figure out that this is a good idea. It takes more calories of fossil fuel energy in the making of ethanol than you get from the resulting alcohol. Bass ackwards? You bet. Turning corn into everything from sweetener, to livestock feed, to plastics to fuel for vehicles is happening because the corn is so cheap for corporations to buy. It is a commodity, not the sweet corn that you crave for late summer BBQ's. It has a high starch content that is tasteless and only useful when heavily processed. More energy input to make this corn "edible"

The thing that made me want to write about this article was the reference to the government fixing the problems with global warming. I wonder when "Joe Public" will realize that the government will not ever fix the problem with global warming, peak oil, the growing debt crisis, obesity, cancers, violence, and poverty. These should be what our elected officials are doing, instead they are just status quo, allowing the same old thing to keep happening. The popular parties are afraid to be the one to make the decision that the world needs to do things differently. Why aren't farmers subsidized for having poly culture farms, feeding grass to cows instead of corn, for conserving water and fossil fuels. It is because the Big corporation lobby have nothing to gain, they are the ones with the money and the say in what happens.

We need to remember that our government is hundreds controlled by dozens with billions. Everyone of us is a revolution waiting to happen with an army of millions. Maybe we don't have the money that the corporations do, but you know where that money comes from? From you and I. Stop feeding this system. Eat better, exercise more, leave the car at home once in a while, ride a bike, walk! Plant a garden, stop eating this absolute SHIT food that our grocery stores are full of. Support local farmers, especially ones that use organic practices and pasture their animals. Consume less crap, don't shop at dollar stores. Buy good quality and buy it once, not every year. I just can't stress it enough. The government WILL NOT fix this. We are the only ones that can, and not with our votes, but with our wallets and our voices. Tell people and make sure they understand. The status quo isn't going to work anymore.

In the words of Jack Spiko "The revolution is you"