Smil — “Industrial man no longer eats potatoes made from…”

Source: How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going — Vaclav Smil

Book page: smil-how-the-world-really-works

From: How the World Really Works — Quotes

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industrial man no longer eats potatoes made from solar energy; now he eats potatoes partly made of oil.”[81] Fifty years later, this existential dependence is still insufficiently appreciated—but the readers of this book now understand that our food is partly made not just of oil, but also of coal that was used to produce the coke required for smelting the iron needed for field, transportation, and food processing machinery; of natural gas that serves as both feedstock and fuel for the synthesis of nitrogenous fertilizers; and of the electricity generated by the combustion of fossil fuels that is indispensable for crop processing, taking care of animals, and food and feed storage and preparation