The Deep Roots of Deforestation

Written by Ryan McGuine // Humans have been changing the landscapes around them for millennia. Some began electively breeding crop varieties, grazing livestock, and clearing forests to do so as early as 3,000 years ago. The population was quite small then by today's standards, but the amount of land per person required to grow enough food was quite large. While clearing forests is not a new phenomenon, and crop yields today are much higher than they once were, deforestation has still accelerated in recent decades. Continue reading

Growing Energy on Trees

Written by Ryan McGuine // Biomass is the oldest source of energy harnessed by humans. The history of energy transitions has been one of moving away from biomass and toward fuels with greater power densities, like coal, natural gas, and petroleum, but today it is making a comeback in high-income countries as a way to help combat climate change. While replacing all fossil fuel consumption with biomass would be a disaster for the climate, it will certainly play a role in the decarbonization of the economy. Continue reading

Grow Crops, Not Algae

Written by Ryan McGuine // The incredible crop yields made possible by modern, intensive agriculture have literally made it possible to feed the world. Fossil fuels, which are used to power mechanized cultivation and as feedstocks for fertilizers and pesticides, are central to intensive agriculture. Chief among the fossil fuel-derived agrochemicals is nitrogen fertilizer, in the form of ammonia. Continue reading

Corn, Cows & Carbon Dioxide

Written by Ryan McGuine // In August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released a new special report. While the report is long and jargon-rich, it is at its core a charge to alter the way people interact with land. Farmers have achieved nearly-miraculous yield gains in the past, yet even more food will be needed to feed a projected 10 billion people by 2050. At the same time, the ways that humans use land contributes massively to climate change, and climate change is making it harder to feed the world. Continue reading

Feeding the World: Population vs Technology

Written by Ryan McGuine // Today the world produces historically spectacular amounts of food. Despite this, around 12% of the world remains undernourished, and assuming current trends hold, the world's population is projected to reach 9.8 billion people around 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100, making the challenge of keeping everyone well-fed even more difficult. Technological progress has enabled the huge crop yields of today, but how to continue that yield growth, and whether that is the best way forward, remains uncertain. Continue reading