3 cartoons to sustainability enlightenment

The following three cartoons are the reason I decided to start this blog. They explain very simply the fundamental issue. Unless we change what we are doing - the human race can not be sustained.

 

The earth is a very simple, yet very elegant machine. It has been operating for many millions of years. The natural cycle is represented above. Low density energy from the sun is converted indirectly into plants. These are eaten by creatures in the food chain. The waste products of the food chain (including the creatures themselves) eventually are converted back into plant matter. Organic material from excess dead plants and animals is stored as high density energy over millions of years in the form of coal, oil and gas. The cycle is sustainable when the amount of plants, creatures, nutrients etc are in balance. A key step to focus on is that the waste products of the creatures are recycled into nutrients and hence food for the creatures. The recycling takes time and requires a low density of waste.

Human beings lived in the above way (replace the bunny) for many many thousands of years (until 300 or so years ago). This subsistence living meant hunting and foraging. Populations densities were low. Populations increased when farming methods were developed and captive creatures were farmed. However, fundamentally - the same pattern held. Waste products used in building and living were mostly degradable and hence formed part of the cycle.

The industrial revolution - for the first time - saw the stored energy (coal, oil, gas) being dug up for a ready source of high density energy.

Today, and for the last two hundred years humans have been augmenting the low density energy received from the sun with stored energy from fossil fuels. Regarding the food cycle, humans have used the high density stored energy to create food more efficiently. In addition, other finite resources such as minerals have been mined using the coal and oil to further increase crop yields. This has allowed the population to increase dramatically compared to the levels that could be sustained without fossil fuels. Note, however, that the cycle is no longer balanced as the waste from the larger population can not be converted back into fossil fuels at the same rate as they are being extracted. At this stage it does not seem to be a huge problem.

The last cartoon points out that the same cycle applies to everything we do (not just food) and (for me at least) shows the problem in a clearer way. 

Not only are fossil fuels and stores of minerals being used to help grow food, they are used for everything else that goes with modern life. The fossil fuels are so energy rich, it has been possible to manufacture all sorts of goods. When we are finished with these goods, they are being dumped as waste. In principle these could be converted back into stored fuel. But not at the rate they are being dug up. The cycle is broken.

A final point is that despite the huge efficiencies in modern farming utilizing fossil fuels and mineral deposits, it has still been necessary to turn almost all of the earth's land surface over to supplying food for the human race. Ironically, in doing that, humans are reducing the capacity of the earth to turn waste material back into food as the delicate mechanism of the cycles are being destroyed. We are heading for a downwards spiral. 

Sustainability is the capacity to endure. If the human race is to endure, it will have to work out how to balance the cycle again. That means being able to live off the low density energy of the sun without dependence on stored fossil fuels. We do not know when the finite resources of fossil fuels and minerals will run out. But run out they must - one day. It would be comforting to think that a technological solution will allow future waste products to be recycled for fuel. If not, there is always the age old fall back of using the earth and its biological recycling to do the job for us. We will just have to be mindful that it is not designed to recycle the fossil fuel generated waste from many billions of people, and it has to be healthy to do so.