ES290 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Resource Depletion, Productivism, Externality
28 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
It is estimated that one barrel of oil is worth approximately 25,000 human hours: the upside of motomechanization is higher food production, downside is it requires more input like oil ect. that farmers have to pay for. Industrial vs traditional agriculture: heavy capital inputs, new varieties of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, monocropping and generalized mechanization for planting and harvesting. Productivism: an approach to agriculture that maximizes output or yield per unit area and disregards all other considerations (resource depletion or social justice). Capitalism: capital derives from the latin word for head or top. Its an economic system in which the participants engage in an unceasing quest for the top. Agricultural treadmill: by adopting a new technique or technology farmers hope to raise yields and increase income. But others keep adopting new technology as well, causing more food to enter the system which lowers the price of food.
