Humans need external energy

Not sure where to post this topic, it is excellent giving much understanding.

Humans need external energy for survival:

http://energybulletin.net/stories/2012-08-28/humans-seems-need-external-energy

Thanks for sharing this, I found it interesting. My boyfriend and I were just discussing "could we live without electricity" so this was a good read for us to follow up with.

The raw food, nudist, never travel crowd are bound to disagree. Good thing they shun computers (:

You mean the raw foodists with their vitamix blenders? :p

LaLena MaeRee wrote:You mean the raw foodists with their vitamix blenders? :p

Yes, but only those who generate the power with a bike generator made from bamboo and fairy dust..

LaLena MaeRee wrote:Thanks for sharing this, I found it interesting. My boyfriend and I were just discussing "could we live without electricity" so this was a good read for us to follow up with.

it is perfectly possible to live without electricity, we didn't have electricity in residential houses in the UK until the early 1930s-some didn't have it until the 1960s, wife and I have both lived without electricity for long periods(separately) so its perfectly possible its just a matter of adapting, but some who have never known anything different may have trouble adapting.

And of course, living in the tropics makes it so much easier... Abundance of fruits and greens and other edible stuff... We tend to think, that we are the lucky ones here in the north, but most people have no clue of the reality of life in tropical countries outside what the tv tells them. I have travelled a bit, and life IS really much easier there somehow, when it comes to feeding, clothing (don't need that much) warming yourselves...

Two concepts really jumped out at me:

...for a primate the size of humans, cooking food decreases the amount of time that must be spent chewing food from 48% of daily activity to 4.7% of daily activity.

We used to spend almost 50% of our time chewing prior to cooking??? Wow.

Humans have found ways to increase food supply, through the use of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and refrigeration, all of which require fossil fuels.

Gail needs to read up on Permaculture! Much of that is not necessary and/or doesn't require fossil fuels.

Oh yeah, a third thing:

One deficiency of human evolution is that our tooth enamel has not evolved to withstand a diet high in starches.

More feathers in the low carb/paleo hat.

and what will the human race do when there are no "fossil" fuels left? just sit on their backsides and wait for the end if I know the current generation and of course it'll all be the governments fault wont it-not theirs??

cairn paul wrote:and what will the human race do when there are no "fossil" fuels left?

We'll all practice permaculture techniques! That's why it was created.

permaculture was about for a long time before someone thought up a trendy title for it.

Individual techniques have been around for a longtime. Permaculture puts them together in framework and teaches us how and when to use the techniques.