CARBON REDUCTION
We have the technology to overcome our global food and energy
crises but we need to decentralise society to achieve this, writes
Jon Elms in this award-winning essay
CHANGE
FROM THE BOTTOM UP
INTRO countries saw the collapse of supply chains, the latest technology, these urban farms would
This essay from Jon Elms is the winning
public disorder and rioting. be able to produce greater yields of higher qual-
entry in this year’s Vinyl 2010 Essay
While technological solutions to these prob- ity produce. This would improve the potential
Competition. Jon answered the posed
lems are within our grasp, it is perhaps the output of land per square metre, and would
question: “Faced with a food and energy
organisation of systems of production which enhance the security and energy efficiency of
crisis, how can society improve its well-
offers the key to securing our future. Currently, the supply chain. Also, existing agricultural land
being?”
our food and energy are organised around cen- would receive a respite from intensive farming.
The competition is designed to get
tralised processes. Farmers grow crops and farm Reconnecting consumers with food production
young people aged 18 to 30 years, from
livestock and a multi-layered global supply has the potential to promote responsible pro-
across Europe and around the world, to
chain takes food to densely populated urban duction of food, reduce wastage and over con-
think about sustainable development
centres, where it is sold to consumers. sumption.
issues.
Modern agriculture as a production system World energy is also currently produced
faces immense challenges. As world population using centralised methods. Power stations, often
increases, so does demand for food supply. This powered by carbon fuels, generate electricity
A
s energy and food security decline in the is directly contrasted with falling agricultural and supply homes utilising inefficient infra-
21st century, the ability of centralised production output quantity and quality due to structure. The transaction costs of centralised
institutions and production methods to loss of land for development of buildings, land electricity production are incredible. The
deal with a mounting crisis seems to decline in degradation due to soil erosion and intensive Greenpeace report, Decentralising Power, high-
equal measure. This essay argues that society farming, changing weather patterns and the use lights that 67% of energy generated under cen-
needs to rethink, reorganise and revolutionise of agricultural land for biomass fuel crops. In tralised production methods is lost in the
its organisational structure, adapting the addition, the worldwide agricultural industry process of delivery. Reliance on carbon-based
resources at its disposal toward decentralised contributes about 25% of the global carbon fuels to power vehicles and generate electricity
production methods. This would help to create emissions, which accelerate climate change, is increasingly unsustainable and insecure. As
an independent, responsible and sustainable exacerbating food production problems. carbon-based fuels decrease in abundance and
society which can avoid an ensuing economic cost more to extract and refine, the world
and social catastrophe. While we possess the Economic approach becomes reliant on key geographical areas to
technology and knowledge to overcome our The FAO confirms that two billion people live deliver fuel. This creates a competition for ener-
problems, history shows our fate is dependent in conditions of intermittent food security and gy supply, which has political, economic and
upon our ability to evolve, adapt and change. advocates an economic approach to protect the sometimes military implications, to the dis-ben-
The age of relative human technological existing system of production, allowing food efit of society.
advancement is perhaps also an age of paradox. producers the technological and financial
Obesity and starvation prevail in equal measure opportunities to produce more. Point of demand
and energy in the form of heat, electricity, fuel However, this approach seems flawed in that The realities of power outages and rising energy
and food, taken for granted by the consumer it does not address the fundamental problem of prices highlight the deficiency of centralised
markets of the first world, are only aspirations the reducing capacity of agriculture to produce. power generation. In contrast, decentralised
for others. Wellbeing is seemingly rising for first The agricultural industry is desperately in need energy (DE) production would feature the gen-
world countries while declining for others and of wholesale innovation, and some believe eration of electricity and fuel at the point of
the gross imbalances in quality of life are often decentralised production of food may be the demand. A DE system would involve a mix of
achieved at the others’ expense. In 2008, a glob- answer. Urban agriculture, using vertical farm- renewable and sustainable production methods
al food and energy supply crisis began through- ing methods would feature shifting the activity such as solar, biogas, biomass, wind, geothermal
out the world, in both developed and undevel- of farming from remote outdoor locations to which would be linked into the existing nation-
oped countries. Against a backdrop of high indoor locations closer to the point of demand. al power grid.
global population growth, climate change con- Under this method, a vast range of crops and Buildings and vehicles, two of society’s
cerns and economic turmoil, fuel and food livestock would be farmed indoors in homes largest energy users, would be both producers
prices rose at unprecedented rates, and some and buildings closer to urban centres, and using and consumers of energy across an adaptable
28 May 2009 ❘ Sustainable Business
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