Summary 2
Hydrocarbons are the basis of modern society. Just about every daily used object is made from hydrocarbons. Our culture is founded on hydrocarbons. Oil, particularly, is the biggest hydrocarbon used today. The problem with such a strong dependence on oil is that it is not a renewable source. Over the decades of extensive use, oil reserves have begun to deplete. M. King Hubbert predicted that Peak Oil would strike around present time. Peak Oil is when the energy used to retrieve oil is higher than the energy used to from the oil. As an oil well is tapped and the pressure drops, the cost to drill the oil climbed above the profits from selling the oil. Already the US and Russia have passed their Peak Oil and soon around 2010 the world’s Peak Oil will be reached. Besides oil, natural gas, another hydrocarbon, is being used as a fuel source. While drilling for natural gas is usually cheaper than oil drilling, there is not enough natural gas to cover national energy needs. Natural gas is less dense than oil, so much more is needed for the same energy levels, but there is just not enough gas to be obtained.

With the fall of oil, the fall of agriculture will follow quickly. At the moment, only two nations are major exporters of grain, the US and Canada. Higher population and decreased oil fuel could cause at least the US to stop exporting grain, hurting the economy and possibly starving millions of people to death. The agriculture system needs to undergo changes to prevent such a catastrophe. Changes like renewable energy sources, environmentally friendly methods, and population control need to be considered to save the world from a major disaster. North Korea is an example of what type of disaster is waiting for the rest of the world. With little oil resources and poor soil, North Korea was dependent on imports from the Soviet Union. After the Soviet collapse, North Korea’s oil supplies dwindled and could not support their agriculture and industry infrastructure fell apart. Soon people were out of work and starving and North Korea has to rely heavily on outside help. The whole world could suffer the same collapse and there is no outside help for the rest of the world.

Answers:
Fossil Fuels have added to the dangerously vulnerable state of modern agriculture by the mass production of the crops that feed the present day giant populations are only possible by using machines that only run by fossil fuels. Agriculture production is run by fossil fuels, so when they fail, agriculture fails.
Lessons the US can learn from North Korea’s collapse is that over reliance on oil and poor treatment of soil can and will lead to crop failure, starvation, and economic pains because with an inefficient oil supply and poor soil, a present day agriculture cannot produce enough crops to fuel the population

4-Will passing the Peak Oil mark speed up the possible crash of the national agriculture infrastructure so that it is too late to save?
5-How did North Korea’s communist policies directly affect how oil was used in North Korea’s economy?
6-Have the use of hydrocarbons become the downfall of the world as the heavy reliance cannot be easily switched off and the hydrocarbon source cannot last?