Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future: Excerpt

The case for manufactured protein is sometimes made on the grounds that its bacterially based processes are more energy efficient than plant photosynthesis. But it’s a misleading claim given the energy costs of producing the generated electricity and industrial plant needed in the manufactured route.

Saying No to a Farm-Free Future  by Chris Smaje

Who needs to read Saying No to a Farm-Free Future? Anyone thinking that the ecomodernist prescription might be a good idea; and anyone arguing with ecomodernists and looking for data to back up their feeling that  “food” factories in megacities is not the best path.

Review: Saying NO to Ecomodermism. Smaje Versus Monbiot, It’s No Contest

How do those raised in a culture of separation from nature, with abundant exosomatic energy from fossil fuels and vast transportation networks, develop the knowledge, skills, and new culture that draws from the past while preparing for a very different future? Chris Smaje helps us out.

Redwashing consumerism will not save the planet

Overall the plan of action should be the same: empowering localized economies and grassroots organizations as a way to mitigate resource overuse and move toward an ecological civilization.  Any model that begins from the proposition that consumption patterns can remain unchanged is a nonstarter.

From regenesis to re-exodus: of George Monbiot, mathematical modernism and the case for agrarian localism

We don’t need re-genesis, but a de-urbanizing re-exodus to places where we can create such food cultures. The real lesson from George Monbiot’s grandmother, I’d submit, is not the narrowness of her diet but the breadth of her knowledge.