This note is a part of my Zettelkasten. What is below might not be complete or accurate. It is also likely to change often.
18th August, 2020

Green Revolution

Green revolution was a movement in the early 60s and 70s to improve crop yield by introducing a combination of High yielding crop varieties (mostly hybrid), Increased inorganic fertilizer and pesticide use & Large scale irrigation projects

The green revolution was powered by more efficient and increased outputs from the Petrochemical Industry. It some became became widespread throughout India and other developing nations.

Effect on Finitude

It had a positive out come that it made india self-sufficient wrt food (cereals). Has it, increased the overall carrying capacity of the planet though?

Effect on Fairness

The green revolution gave up on long term sustainability for short-term gains.

  • It resulted in a system which depleted the natural resilience of the land and needs constant external inputs to be productive. This is not fair to future humans who come after us.
  • The green revolution also resulted in many ecologically problematic events like Deadzones and loss of traditional agrobiodiverse systems. This is not fair to everyone who doesnt benefit from the green revolution and future generations.
  • The green revolution caused excess food in large part of the world by didnt improve availability of nutrition for the poorest directly.

Effect on Fragility

The green revolution drastically changed agricultural patterns in a short period of time - replacing traditional agrobiodiverse systems which have worked for millenia with industrial systems which are unlikely to be sustainable in the long term.

The industrial system requires lots of inputs from outside the local system, affecting fragility adversely

  • The industrial system of farming has replaced careful management of soil and local environment with a dependance of industrially produced chemicals and fertilizers. This makes the local system fragile and these chemicals make the land less capable of sustaining life.
  • This increased input made farmers less independant and increasingly dependant on credit, adding economic and social fragility