maybe not the post-scarcity stuff you're looking for, but key to understanding our predicament is that the nations that do the agricultural work civilization is based in have depleted soil & altered ecology from before the introduction of nitrogen fertilizer. they have to buy soil fertility back from the petrochemical industry centered around the dollar (Africa imports 80%), they have to sell underpriced cash crops for dollars instead of developing food + climate security in order to stay afloat in their debt trap. the financial & trade dimension of this is the primary issue for reaching a post-scarcity civilization, not advocating lifestyle practices which are actively uprooted. aside from fhe direcr loss of nitrogen soils w/ synthetic fertilizer have a totally different microbiome than unfertilized/organically amended ones. synthetic tends to lower microbial diversity + richness, otoh, organic inputs boost diversity and metabolic activity. microbial community switches around, inorganic depletes acidobacteria + enriches quick proteobacteria, organic inputs create more complex networks. biggest difference in nitrohen cycling genes. long‑term manure juices almost all nitrification/denitrification genes, and combining manure w/ fertilizer boosts nosZ‑carrying microbes also, the effect depends on where you look one study found fertilizer didn’t change the rhizosphere bacterial community but did strongly alter the root endosphere community. anyways integrating organic inputs or switching to organic fertilizer sources support a more resilient + diverse microbiome & this helps w/ nutrient cycling + cuts down environmental harm vs going full synthetic. organic farming is often linked to the direct health cost of pesticides, which is great, but the chief pesticide monopolies are part of a much wider story not being costed-in (DOW chemical and Monsanto etc is an insane KKK rabbit hole).
ACTION managed to unveil a prophet at the 1972 ball. Three white women obtained balcony tickets. As one woman shouted “Down with the VP!” another swung down from the balcony on a cable to the stage (the fall crushed three of her ribs). She told an official that she had fallen, and managed to sneak on stage, standing right next to the seated Veiled Prophet. She pulled the veil from his face, and then was quickly rushed offstage by the Bengal Lancers, the VP’s protective guard. The VP, a Monsanto executive vice president, put his crown and veil back on, and the ball proceeded as usual.
Their current opposition (no tear gassing craKKKer balls 😿 all Medea Benjamins):
we already have actual examples of regenerative farming practices being used today that can give you a window into what a post-f.fuels world looks like. VAC systems(vườn-ao-chuồng or garden-pond-livestock) have been running for decades but now got formalized w/ FAO backing. 1 farm runs 120k laying hens + 4k ducks over 2 hectares + livestock waste to fertilize rice/fruit trees +pond sediment to feed the garden + crop byproducts as fish feed. minimal external inputs. they would havr ypu believe it's only chicken coops shitting into rice fields, but hey that's pretty underutilized in & of itself. my point is this is quite scalable & there are different regional practices that can be redeveloped & the skilled labor part of agricultural growth can kick in. my charlimit senses tingle, back to the book. this or straight-up scifi or heideggerian back-to-the-land fantasies repacked as magazine slop for your mom (latter won't work. former, being chinese + vietnamese chiefly, relies on it. get in the rocket.)
John B. Foster – The Ecological Roft: Capital's War on the Earth <- anna's archive link
I think these studies may be underselling how much protein 💪 ppl need 👀