Petrol power - An eco-revolution?

Laura and her neighbours were only saved when her fiancé and his friend trudged 30 kilometres through the snow to fetch food, risking their lives in the process. The story is a reminder of how lethal geographical isolation and crop failures could be before the advent of modern farming and transportation technologies. Not long ago, subsistence farmers in many countries had to cope with the ‘lean season’ – the period of greatest scarcity before new crops became available. In England, a late spring was once referred to as the ‘hungry gap’. The situation was made worse by the cost of moving heavy things over muddy dirt roads; three centuries ago, moving goods 50 kilometres on land between inland towns, say Liverpool and Manchester, was as expensive as shipping them across the North Atlantic. The development of coal-powered railways and steamships in the 19th century revolutionised the lives of farmers. Instead of having to grow everything they needed, they could now specialise in what they did best and rely on other producers for their remaining needs. The result was not only food and ever-cheaper prices, but the end of widespread famine and starvation, as the surplus from regions with good harvests could now be transported…