February 8, 2008 link
With all the alarm that we're running out of fossil fuels, a person might ask, "what are we going to do?" Much of the press so far has focused
on "alternative energy" sources—the idea that we can find an alternate energy source to continue our current energy patterns (ever upward). While these sources are certainly worth exploring, I don't think they
are a long-term answer.
A much more sensible—and more likely—future is one where energy is supplied the old-fashioned way: through the productive use of our bodies. Wylie Harris at the Land Institute envisions a quickly approaching future where "muscle power could soon again be a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels for growing food". In Lawn to farm: suburbia’s silver lining Harris points out the silver lining to suburban sprawl: the nation's best farmland is already occupied by plenty of people. If a fuel crisis arises, many of us are a hoe handle's reach from reinventing ourselves as small farmers. There's gold under them thar golf courses.
