Fossil Foodscapes: Examining the United States’ Carbon Diet
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Date
2020-06
Authors
Polk, Siena
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
While many are aware of the inputs required to maintain food production at an
industrial level in the United States, we seldom reflect on the profound significance of a
food system that is so deeply rooted in what Matthew Huber calls the “dead ecologies
of fossilized energy.” In order to more fully understand and critique the linkages
between fossil fuels and agriculture, as well as their ecological and social implications, I
examine the use of fossil fuels in agriculture through an eco-socialist framework. I
employ Wim Carton’s fossil fuel landscape and Marx as developed by John Bellamy
Foster’s concept of metabolic rift to illuminate the linkages between combustible
carbons and the food we eat. Ultimately, these two concepts lead to a place of critical
understanding in attempts to envision a more sustainable and resilient future. Such an
inquiry is of the upmost urgency considering the dual threats of climate change and soil
erosion. Both threats are exacerbated by our continued use of fossil fuels and the
machines they power.
Description
Submitted to the Undergraduate Library Research Award scholarship competition: 2020. 64 pages.
Keywords
climate change, sustainable agriculture, fossil fuels, food supply, combustible carbons