Disaster Planning

[mik3cap]

If Yellowstone park does actually erupt and cover half the country in a bunch of hot ash, it'll most likely end up doing that to the portion of the country that makes food (specifically the part that grows corn). I don't know what kind of remediation would be needed to recover soil that's been volcanically affected for purposes of growing crops, but if a big eruption does occur, it's going to be a world of hurt - a real global food crisis, and then a whole bunch of global cooling that might make growing crops more difficult.

Comments

[bluegargantua]

Actually, one of the reasons why people live near volcanoes? The ash actually enriches the soil. There'd be a lot of clean-up but once that was out of the way, the land itself should be pretty fertile.

later
Tom

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

Is that actually true in the case of "modern" corn production though? There's a lot of crazy stuff that needs to happen with nitrogen injection into the soil and junk.

This is of course also not considering that if an eruption happens during the growing season, all the current crop could be lost (burned away, or rendered inedible). And also that the growing season could be stunted climate wise.

[bluegargantua]

"There's a lot of crazy stuff that needs to happen with nitrogen injection into the soil and junk."

In this case, the nitrogen injection is the ash.

later
Tom

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

I trust your Nebraskan instincts.

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

And also your massive experience with large-scale injection.

[purly.livejournal.com]

This sentence would be better if it ended after massive experience.

[saintentreri.livejournal.com]

From what I can tell, the only thing that would change would be corn farmers would stop lobbying about how important corn is (pretty much the only reason it's generally accepted that corn production is practically the life support of our agriculture) because they would have almost none left. Some obscene percentage (close to 60ish I think) of corn grown here is unusable for food and thus used for inefficient biofuel synthesis, causing even more problems than just using gasoline. What we should be doing is lifting the ban on hemp production so we can make ethanol from that, a much more efficient and environmentally friendly process. But the Puritans can't have people growing the demon weed!

[purly.livejournal.com]

Ok I'll bite. I think it could be the proverbial straw on the camel's back. We're already facing an economic maelstrom. And war. Add famine to the mix and people will get mad. Usually following famine, there is disease as well.

But the question is, can we adapt to the changing environment quickly enough to recover/prevent the famine and disease that will soon follow? Assuming we can live through it, can we adapt to it?

Possibly, through hydroponic growing and strategic use of technology. We could have to rely on staple crops. Stores of grains and beans could last through several months, maybe a year or more. I can live off rice and beans with some vitamins. If we can maintain electricity, we can all start growing other things in our homes. Strawberries, tomatoes, and leafy greens tend to have a quick turnaround on the gardening scene. Animals are great for food because they store up energy for later. Of course we would have to stop feeding them, so I anticipate a mass slaughter and freezing of meat.

The question becomes one of whether we can maintain stability of a society, and maintain government.

If we use the troops to set up hydroponic growing operations / grow lights, all over the US and we don't help out our neighbors too, chances are good that they will attack us when they run out of food.

We don't have the resources to help everyone, so we probably have to start looking at ways of removing the ash. Scientists have discovered ways of seeding clouds for rainfall. Do it enough and you might be able to clear the ash from the sky in time for summer.

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

We would totally be in a true depression if a famine happened. There would probably be food riots, and the government would have to take over food growing operations and ration food for everyone. We'd also be under martial law at this point, and the government would probably go broke - Halliburton would probably end up being the contractor that tries to feed people too. Man, that would be a hell of a mess...

[gunthersdncemix.livejournal.com]

If they have volcanic ash, they can always switch from growing corn to Kona coffee.