And because everything in our current society depends on petroleum, life will be very different. It will be impossible to bring food, water, and medicine long distances. As a result, it will be necessary to meet these needs based on local resources. The notion that solar, wind, and other renewable sources of energy will substitute fossil fuels in maintining identical patterns of consumption is a thermodynamic fallacy. These sources of energy are much more expensive per kilowatt, and will only become more expensive. They will become more expensive because the minerals and metals for solar panels, wind turbines, etc., are extracted from the ground and processed using fossil fuels. Petroleum currently subsidizes the cost of renewables. Their production and manufacture will be very costly and difficult in a post-petroleum world. Moreover, renewable sources of energy require storage in batteries, which themselves need to be made from energy-intensive metal mining and petroleum-hungry plastics. So, the notion that our current pattern of energy consumption can continue by shifting to renewable energy sources, or even nuclear power, is a thermodynamic impossibility.
Humanity can choose how we wish to make the transition from highly concentrated fossil energy sources to less concentrated ones. It will be impossible to sustain current patterns of consumption, so it will be necessary to decide what aspects of our lives we wish to maintain and which we do not. Transporting food long distances, commuting long distances every day, next-day delivery, and routine air travel would seem to be uses of energy that we will not be able to maintain. But modern medicine, the internet, scientific research, and the arts certainly seem like priorities to maintain as a species.
The correct choices about what to maintain and what to discard during the transition away from fossil fuels are what ecologists Odum and Odum refer to as “the propserous way down.” The “down” in their formula refers to concentration of energy per unit cost of the source. Petroleum has the most energy for its current cost of any energy source ever used by humanity. It appears that from a thermodynamic standpoint all other sources cost more and will always be costly. The “down” part of the “way down” refers to the lowering of per-capita energy consumption. The transition to other, costlier energy sources is not simply the replacement of our current energy consumption patterns with renewable sources. This is apparently a thermodynamic impossibility—there is simply not enough energy available in alternative sources to support identical patterns of consumption. So, energy transition inevitably involves not only moving to other sources but also reducing energy consumption.
Lowering per capita energy consumption will require large adjustments to lifestyle and how urban and agricultural spaces are distributed. It will involve producing food locally. It will require decentralizing large urban centers and distributing food production area and living areas more evenly. Making the right choices promises some marked improvements to our lifestyle. It means food will be fresher and taste better. It means having wide skill sets- craftsmen, workers, educators, doctors, etc.—locally rather than outsourcing. It will mean working close to home, or at home. So not only will the food be better, but we will be able to forge strong communities, in which more people have important and satisfying roles.
Moringa is important because it is drought resistance and useful in multiple ways, and so has an important part to play in our future. This is what brought Amanda down to the Collection. She recognizes that our future, in addition to having less energy resources and therefore less ability to cope with adversity, also will coincide with the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change. We will need plants that can deal with adversity, and few deal as well as moringa. We will need plants that provide concentrated nutrition, and moringa certainly does this. We will need plants that help keep us healthy, and with its anti-cancer chemoprotective activity, its glucoregulatory properties, and a host of other beneficial effects, moringa will certainly be a necessary and welcome tool in dry tropical communities of the future. Because the leaves are edible, moringa can even produce biodiesel- appropriate oil without diverting acreage from food production.
Amanda describes all of these considerations way more readably than I do. She describes the Colllection as covering a “hardscrabble acre,” which it most certainly is, and I adored the phrase. She describes moringa as having “affably chaotic branches,” which describes the tree perfectly and with the affection that such a generous tree deserves. She describes moringa as a “nutritional Swiss Army knife,” and an “overqualified underachiever,” which is most certainly is. In addition to her engaging prose, Amanda’s article contains not a single reporting error. This is amazing, and in fact almost never happens. Writers work on deadlines and need so summarize a large amount of unfamiliar information in a short time in accessible language, so it is understandable that most reporting includes a certain number of errors. My hat is off to Amanda and her exceptional perceptiveness and rigor.
As the dry season continues here, research at the Collection continues to examine the mechanisms underlying moringa’s drought resistance in a world of increasingly erratic rainfall. Thanks, Amanda, for highlighting our efforts.