Peak Manure
December 29th, 2008 at 12:00 pm by David FarrarGwynne Dyer looks at peak oil projections, and notes:
London in the 1890s had 11,000 horse-drawn taxis and several thousand buses, each of which required 12 horses a day.
Add all the private carriages and the tens of thousands of horse-drawn carts, wagons and drays delivering goods, and there were at least 100,000 horses on the streets of London every day – each producing an average of 10kg of manure. Two thousand tonnes of manure a day. There were flies everywhere, and if you didn’t shovel the manure up quickly, it dried up and blew into your eyes, your hair, your nose, your clothes.
As the cities grew, even more horses were needed and the problem grew steadily worse.
One writer in the Times in 1894 estimated that in 50 years the streets of London would be buried under 3m of manure.
The first peak manure projection 
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December 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
“One writer in the Times in 1894 estimated that in 50 years the streets of London would be buried under 3m of manure.”
DPF – You obviously didn’t live in Tottenham. I used to walk past this welfare ghetto estate and there were piles of shitty nappies on teh road all the time. Couldn’t figure it out til one was walkign along and this nappy comes sailing down from the tower block and splatted on the footpath. The animals who lived there used to throw their rubbish and shit out the windows. So 16th C it was almost quaint.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
It seems to have been forgotten that the reason Daimler and Benz invented the motor car was to clean up the city streets.
They were hugely successful.
Also prior to the invention of the motor car the horses in the US consumed 40 of the total grain crop grown in the US.
All that extra food released by the motor car helped drive the population explosion of the 20th century.
The English of course named the vehicle the motor car – short for horseless carriage and the Rolls became the iconic UK car.
The US named it the automobile because it delivered auto mobility which delivered freedom and the Model T became the iconic US car.
One reason Kiwi men hate the Japanese imports released by Rogernomics was that it did so much to set New Zealand women free.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
“One reason Kiwi men hate the Japanese imports released by Rogernomics was that it did so much to set New Zealand women free.”
Free to drive from Hunter’s Corner (when it got slow) to K Road in record time.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
“One reason Kiwi men hate the Japanese imports released by Rogernomics was that it did so much to set New Zealand women free.”
Crikey Owen can you put me in touch with whoever arranged your mind-benders, they must be really good.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Damn straight. That, and the invention of tinned goods, ruined the institution of marriage.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Seem to have struck a nerve there.
Vote:Ask young women with children what they think about Japanese imports.
They will tell you how cheap cars changed their lives because they now controlled when they went to work, when they went to pick up the kids, and who did the shopping. Also younger women no longer depended on young drunk men with Holdens to drive them home from parties and pubs. The deaths from car accidents written up on Mondays used to include almost as many young female passengers as young drunk male passengers. After the cheap cars meant women could drive themselves home these passenger death dropped dramatically. Also young women were delighted to be free not to use public transport after dark.
The rapid increase in vehicles on the road during the nineties was largely due to women becoming drivers – in most countries round the world. It was even more dramatic in NZ because import licensing etc had kept cars (and especially second hand cars) much more expensive than in most countries.
You do not hear too many women singing the praises of buses and trains. It’s a guy thing. Guys who hope other people will ride on buses and trains and leave the roads free so they themselves can drive faster.
Women do tend to live in the real world. Few come up with the claim “I would use public transport if it was cheap, efficient and accessible and frequent and indeed met me at the gate and took me directly to the office” but men spout this sort of nonsense on talk back and in letters to the editor and go and work for, or get elected to, their local councils.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
“Seem to have struck a nerve there.”
My funny bone, Owen.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
“Damn straight. That, and the invention of tinned goods, ruined the institution of marriage.”
I know what you mean. I’ve just finished two batches of jam today.. just another 50-60 jars to go over the next few weeks, then onto the tomato relish and soup..
She thinks it’s cute, but here I am barefoot in the kitchen, trying to keep the old traditions of servitude alive.
JC
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I remember reading that point about Douglas liberating women in an article by you about 4 years back Owen….its a great line to bring up when debating lefties who whine about Rogernomics causing “societial damage”….they sound suspiciously like Conservatives pining for the days of “family values’ and the man as the head of the house.
Roger Douglas…..feminist hero…that would have them coughing on their lattes
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
The herald also states today that Petrol prices today are cheapest since 2005. In 2005 Crude was around $60 a barrell versus $36 a barrell today. NZ/US cross was 70c v around 57 today. Can’t do the maths.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Roger is also our greatest environmentalist because by removing farm subsidies he dramatically reduced the use of fertilizer – farmers adopted a raft of technologies to make sure it was spread more efficiently etc.
Vote:And of course by removing the hill country subsidies much land was taken out of production and previously eroded hillsides are now covered in regrowth. I am looking a whole range of them right now!
December 29th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
This point was first raised by Michael Crichton in 2003 in his lecture Aliens Cause Global Warming.
Vote:December 29th, 2008 at 9:01 pm Vote:
December 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Sorry about the experiment gone wrong in my previous post – the quote should have been Owen’s statement (the first paragraph).
Vote:December 30th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
OK, let’s just be a bit clearer about which of Owen’s comments were tongue in cheek, shall we?
Excellent comments, Owen; very good point made by Gwynn Dyer; good on DPF for posting it.
And “theodoresteel”; Julian Simon’s book; “The State of Humanity”, made this point way back in 1995, and I think he had been saying it in op-eds and on TV years before that book was published.
Vote: