Steven Ircha                                                                                                                                                                   4/7/2013

Ms. Davies                                                                                                                          Core Earth Science C Even

McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart. "Can Soil Replace Oil as a Source of Energy? [Excerpt]: Scientific American." Can Soil Replace Oil as a Source of Energy? [Excerpt]: Scientific American. Scientific American, 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2013.

This article discusses the future of the world’s energy crisis. The author defines what energy is, and a battery is not merely some device that holds electricity, but a unit that is capable of storing potential of an electromagnetic reaction. Once this definition changes, suddenly many more options for the future of acquiring this energy broadens. The author states that fossil fuels, which are what the world derives most of its energy off of today, are simply ancient organic compounds. Now using this same logic, there are many sources of fuel that exist on our planet today. Soil is in fact one of these resources. But it is not as common as one might think, and fertile soil is degrading at an even faster level. Nutrients such as carbon are sucked out by plants and the soil loses its value and ability to grow and sustain life. Phosphate and carbon need to be reintroduced into the ground and once these elements are back into the Earth, the ground again can continue to grow plentiful harvests. This simple solution of enriching the soil will help to produce more crops in the long run and keep the people with a stable food supply. From soil, the world produces one of the world’s most valuable resource, food.  Composting is steps in the correct direction, but can only advance soil reproduction so far. Waste reuse or “nutrient management” is the brightest alternative the world has right now. Traditionally, waste has been treated and ultimately dumped. This is an expensive process which uses chemicals and pollutes water. Nations such as the Netherlands are activists in the green movement. They have set up many waste treatment plants across their country and use it in two valuable ways. They extract the phosphorus and nitrogen, two of the most valuable resources in soil that allow for growth and they deposit it back into their topsoil. They then take the remaining waste and extract methane, a valuable gas that can be processed to fuel a number of things. Geoff Lawton, an Australian scientist has recently discovered a way to desalinate fields. Salt is deadly to crops as it destroys the nutrient levels of fields. By digging small irrigation ditches through a field, rainwater can be trapped. It then absorbs into the soil and can make an unusable field able to grow again. Besides food use as a fuel production to produce and use methane, there are other ways to participate in this revolution including incorporating multi-level greenhouses into cities and towns to maximize space for growing and decreasing the need for shipping. The article proposes that more and more greenhouses need to be built and the soil maintained, thus creating a cycle. Plants and grown, then eaten by humans who produce waste, then the waste is converted into energy through methane, or natural gas, and the remainder is used to keep the topsoil fertile while excess energy is used to keep greenhouses running. While a perfect system is still far away, progress is being made daily and the world’s companies and people are becoming more aware of the energy system and the simply ways we can avoid problems for the future.

This article is not only extremely relevant and important for the world today, but for all of the future. If what this article suggests can be properly followed not only will the world solve its problem of degrading topsoil and food shortages, but it will also bring an abundance of energy. This is so important as currently scientists are searching desperately for a new sustainable source of energy when for centuries we have been disposing of the simplest ways of creating it. If the world ever fully adopts this system, who knows what will be possible. World hunger will be solved, as food is not only abundant but necessary to be used in order to feed more people to create more usable energy. Once this is properly executed, many of the conflicts of the world will have no reason to continue as their main reason will have completely vanished. The societal changes in a world where food, soil, and energy are basically unlimited and perfectly sustainable are unfathomable. At that point the progresses that are possible are limitless, and the world will not have to worry about ever running out of such things as they have created the perfect system. At this point, many other more pertinent issues can be addressed and solved making the world an overall better place to live.

While this article suggested a sustainable future that would change the world, the plan did have a few hitches. Mainly these came by the way of money and education. The ideas presented here are interesting and well thought out but planning on paper can only bring us so far. For the plan to actually work the way that authors intend it to a lot more than an attitude change is necessary. A lot of money is needed to create these systems of crop management, resource management, and the transportation of all of the resources. Also who will fund this massive project, because as a result of this immediate change many of the world largest companies would fail sending the world into another recession? The government surely could not fund this operation for the same reason. Also the logistical concerns are enormous. How will resources be transported, where will these greenhouses be, who will own this operation? These are all questions that need to be answered in order for these authors to make a case. They have a great idea, but need to discuss its implementations on a scale level, and actually attempt to make a miniature version of this system. Only once they have done this can they begin to present their case and start moving towards their end goal on a large scale. Besides those major flaws, these authors have created an in depth and seemingly possible program for a sustainable future. Only time will tell whether this goal will actually be reached!