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Also why the whole region has so many sinkhole and similar drainage problems - it's literally built on a lake.
by ZeWaka 6mo ago
Also why the whole region has so many sinkhole and similar drainage problems - it's literally built on a lake.
- culi 6mo agoYup. A lake that used to fuel the single most productive agricultural system humans have ever practiced. It's sad but there is a strong indigenous movement to bring them back. The axolotl actually became a major symbol of indigenous resistance because of this movement
- trhway 6mo agoHow it was (a great interactive 3d reconstruction) https://tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl/ https://tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl/
- culi 6mo agoThis is awesome, thanks for sharing. Andrew Wilson, who works with the United Nations World Food Program, also made an in-depth minidoc on them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86gyW0vUmVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86gyW0vUmVs
- palata 6mo agoWow this is amazing. Thank you!
- trhway 6mo agoThanks to the author and HN - it was posted here sometime ago, and being that impressive it naturally stuck in my memory like i'm sure now it will in yours :)
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- ch4s3 6mo ago> the single most productive agricultural system humans have ever practiced This is simply not true. The highiest maize yield per hectare I can find anywhere online for chinampas is less than half the 13.5 metric tons per hectare that farmers get in Iowa. The more reputable numbers are less than 1/4 of that. It's probably true that they were among the most productive pre-modern agricultural plots which is a great achievement, but there's no need to make things up.
- zeckalpha 6mo agoHow much fertilizer does the Iowan farmer need to add to their field to achieve that? How many years can they maintain that yield without eroding the soil?
- UncleOxidant 6mo agoHow many years can they maintain that without petroleum inputs?
- ch4s3 6mo agoAmmonia can be generated through electrolysis as feed-stock for Haber-Bosch to get nitrogen, so literally forever. The reason we use petroleum is because it's currently cheaper than solar PV electrolysis.
- UncleOxidant 6mo agoSure, but it would take some time to transition to ramp up production to the scale required by world-scale agriculture. We're using petroleum for this because it was cheap & easy. Not saying we can't transition, but it will take time.
- ch4s3 6mo agoRight, but it's possible with existing tech and there's no scenario where oil disappears all at once. Its a highly geographically distributed resource.