Industrial Literacy
The author needs to read more about industry and history, they are wrong or ignorant about a lot of what they say.<p>&gt; all soil loses its fertility naturally over time<p>Here the author is demonstrating their lack of understanding in soil biology.<p>Think about this for a second, if soil naturally loses fertility over time then over the past million years the world would have become a barren waste land before humans got to it.<p>Industrial agriculture uses heavy machinery that compacts the soil and tilling, both kill the microbial activity that naturally fertilises the soil. Because industrial agriculture destroys the soil fertility it must be artificially replaced not the other way around.<p>&gt; That those same crops would not be able to feed us if they were not also protected from pests<p>Here the author is demonstrating their literacy lack and understanding of natural systems.<p>In nature plants grow wild, in industrial agriculture we create monocultures of plants that allow pests and disease to spread easily between the plants resulting in famines like the Irish potato famine.<p>&gt; before we had electricity and clean natural gas, people burned unrefined solid fuels in their homes—wood, coal, even dung<p>Here the author demonstrates their lack of history coal is one of the keys of the industrial revolution.<p>They make it sound like we always produced CO2 at the levels of industry, this simply isn&#x27;t true.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.climate.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;CO2_emissions_vs_concentrations_1751-2019_lrg.gif" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.climate.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;CO2_emissions_vs...</a><p>&gt; plastics are produced in enormous quantities because, for so many purposes—from food containers to electrical wire coatings to children’s toys - we need a material that is cheap, light, flexible, waterproof, and insulating, and that can easily be made in any shape and color (including transparent!)<p>We don&#x27;t need to use plastics for the stated consumer purposes.<p>I had a sandwich and some strawberries for lunch, the food was consumed immediately after purchase, the plastic packaging they came in will last forever, I can hand them down to my children and grand children long after I am dead. I didn&#x27;t  need them packaged in this way paper would have done or nothing at all.<p>&gt; Industrial literacy means understanding that the components of the global economy are not arbitrary. Each one is there for a reason—often a matter of life and death.<p>Mater of life and death? Citation needed, the author makes it clear that their understanding of the global economy and industrial literacy are lacking or based on climate change denial propaganda, all of their examples demonstrate one consistent thing about industry.<p>Industry consistently sacrifices long term sustainability for short term gain. Which is beneficial for me and the author at the cost of every human to come.