Asphalt
In a world of diminishing oil and natural gas production, it's safe to assume that we will need all of the land we have to produce food using non-industrialized farming methods. It might sound ridiculous now, but we'll probably need to rip out parking lots to do this (it's not like we'll be able to drive our cars on them anyway).
But here's what I'm wondering: what the heck are we going to do with all of that asphalt? And will we have enough machine power to remove it?
It's something to think about.
But here's what I'm wondering: what the heck are we going to do with all of that asphalt? And will we have enough machine power to remove it?
It's something to think about.
posted by Utah Peaknik at 12:56 PM
1 Comments:
I have thought about the same problem. I am afraid once we recognize the need to de-pave, we will be so far into depletion that we won't be able to spare the energy to do it in a mechanized way. I have visions of crews with picks, sledgehammers, and chisel-like tools cutting the asphalt into roughly 1 foot squares and hauling it away.
I have heard that asphalt road surface is the most heavily recycled material. Unfortunately it is pretty much exclusively recycled into new road surface. So much for post peak recycling.
Another issue I wonder about is what is the condition of the soil underneath that asphalt, what contaminates does it hold, and would we want to eat something grown in it? Maybe we will end up doing labor intensive raised bed gardening on top of the old asphalt and adapting the surface as a water catchment system.
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