Modern agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the reliance of modern agriculture on petroleum products for food production.
Albert Allen Bartlett's statement underscores the paradox within modern agriculture, where the production of food is heavily dependent on petroleum, an unsustainable resource. It emphasizes the need to rethink agricultural practices and their environmental impacts, urging a transition towards more sustainable methods that do not rely on fossil fuels.
In practice
In a lecture on environmental science, this quote can be used to discuss the impact of fossil fuels on food systems.
'Smart growth' destroys the environment. 'Dumb growth' destroys the environment. The only difference is that 'smart growth' does it with good taste. It's like booking passage on the Titanic. Whether you go first-class or steerage, the result is the same.
What is the difference between a 2Β°C world and a 4Β°C world? Human civilisation!
It is hard to look at the tumor and not come away with the feeling that one has encountered a powerful monster in its infancy
I have also a paper afloat, with an electromagnetic theory of light, which, till I am convinced to the contrary, I hold to be great guns.
I'm afraid that it's not possible to design a defense against every conceivable threat that you can think of.
Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists-whether through design or stupidity, I do not know-as admitting that the fossil record includes no transitional forms. Transitional forms are generally lacking at the species level, but they are abundant between larger groups.
Imagine a survivor of a failed civilization with only a tattered book on aromatherapy for guidance in arresting a cholera epidemic. Yet, such a book would more likely be found amid the debris than a comprehensible medical text.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.