THE NEXT ADDED 100 MILLION AMERICANS Part 9: Crossing our Agricultural Rubicon By Frosty Wooldridge
In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar defied the Roman senate by crossing the Rubicon River to wage civil war against another Roman, Pompey the Great. By crossing the Rubicon, Caesar made a decision whereby he could not turn back.
Today, "Crossing the Rubicon" means no way to change, repair or undo your destiny. Yes, Caesar conquered Pompey, but the Roman senate, along with Brutus, stabbed Caesar to death.
If President Bush signs an amnesty or bill similar to S.B. 2611, he casts the dye; he crosses the Rubicon of America's death knell. Bush ensures 100 million more people added to our country that explodes our nation to 400 million in the next 34 years on our way to a half billion. Once manifested, we will not be able to turn back.
In a crystal clear expose', "Crossing the Agricultural Rubicon", Dr. John Tanton, Spring 2005, The Social Contract Quarterly, presented harsh realities as to America's food supply.
"We export immense quantities of corn, wheat, soybeans, etc., but much of this crop is fed to animals or processed into food that we then re-import as higher-value agricultural products," Tanton said. "It is the dollar value of imports that is projected to be equal to exports for 2005."
He continued, "The U.S. consumes two-thirds of its own grown food. As population grows, more agricultural land will be converted to non-agricultural uses-roads, hospitals, schools, parking lots, shopping malls and housing projects. Our expanding population will cause us to import more food. The net result will be the gradual decline of our agricultural trade surpluses. We are already in energy deficit as we import 12 million of the 20 millions barrels of oil we burn each day. Now we have a diminishing agricultural exchange surplus with which to buy fuel to facilitate that very agriculture."
The United States feeds the world, but as Tanton exposes in his excellent graphs and charts, we're already importing as much as we're exporting: "We won't feed people around the world much longer," Tanton said.
For example, Colorado's population will add 1.5 million by 2022. That increase means, according to the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post, that 3.1 million acres of prime farm land suffer development into homes, roads, malls, schools and other development.
Whatever your population expansion in your state, commensurate farm acreage will be destroyed. For example, by 2050, Texas will grow from 21 million to 48.1 million, which means millions of acres of land will be taken out of farming for development. No one knows the disaster that awaits them as to water usage. "Crossing the Rubicon" via farmland destruction brings yours and all states closer to Caesar's fate.
Another aspect of this "Agricultural Rubicon" manifests itself in Eric Schlosser's "FAST FOOD NATION" where he exposes the chemicalization of our foods by hundreds of additives, colors, preservatives and poisons like the sweetener aspartame. If you see any food that says, "Sugar Free" or "Diet Soda", run, don't walk away from it.
Since 1950, farmers have sprayed their crops with herbicides and pesticides while injecting soils with dozens of chemical fertilizers that destroy nitrogen fixing bacteria and poison earthworms, bees and birds into early graves. Today, we force genetically modified seeds to produce unnatural harvests while we clone many vegetables and create perfect apples. No one has bought a 'real' strawberry from a major grocery store chain in the last 20 years. Those genetically manufactured berries are big, fat and white with some red coloring, and taste like chalk. The United States Department of Agriculture states that because of depletion of micro-nutrients, you must eat 49 servings of spinach in 2006 to gain the same amount of micro-nutrient value as one serving of spinach in 1949.
In conjunction with fertilizers draining into rivers which poison the fish we eat, farm land suffers acid rain from chemical contaminants raining down from the sky from tens of thousands of industrial smoke stacks spewing sulphur, ammonia, incinerated plastics, mercury and other toxic amalgamations into the air.
In a report, "U.S. Pesticide Stockpile Under Scrutiny" by Rita Beamish of the Associated Press, she said, "The Bush administration is seeking world permission to produce thousands of tons of a pesticide that an international treaty banned nearly two years ago, even though U.S. companies already have assembled huge stockpiles of the chemical.
"Methyl bromide has been used for decades by farmers to help grow plump, sweet strawberries, robust peppers and other crops, but it also depletes the Earth's protective ozone. The United States and other countries signed a 1987 treaty promising to end its use by 2005.
If you think our government tells the unvarnished truth, think again.
Frosty Wooldridge Bio:
Frosty Wooldridge possesses a unique view of the world, cultures and families in that he has bicycled around the globe 100,000 miles, on six continents and six times across the United States in the past 30 years. His books (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
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