Ontario tobacco belt
Encyclopedia
The Ontario tobacco belt is the tobacco
-growing region located in Norfolk County
and eastern Elgin County
in Southwestern Ontario
, Canada
. Being close to the north shore of Lake Erie
, the region has moderate climate with sandy and silt-loam soils well-suited to a wide variety of crops. High-value horticultural
crops are valuable here and can be grown with relative ease. About 90% of all tobacco grown in Canada is produced here. Members of Parliament elected to ridings in the Ontario tobacco belt have strong pro-tobacco policies in addition to other policies in the interest of their rural constituents.
Historically speaking, the Ontario tobacco belt is considered to be focused in the rural area immediately surrounding the towns of Delhi, Aylmer
and Tillsonburg
. Additional tobacco farms can be found in Prince Edward Island
, Nova Scotia
, New Brunswick
, and near Joliette
, Quebec
. United Empire Loyalists introduced this crop after fleeing from their tobacco farms following the American Revolution
. However, the first official tobacco plot wasn't planted in Norfolk County until 1920. While Canadian tobacco farmers (especially those in the Ontario tobacco belt) see themselves as "innocent victims" of government tobacco regulations, most of them started farming after the Canadian government started its health scares. As the older farmers retire, their children will most likely seek different career paths. Tobacco farms would eventually be sold to their neighbors; this has a domino effect
. This domino effect ultimately results in fewer farmers having more acreage creating a further sense of economic inequality
in the area. The irony comes from the fact that farmers protest against the regulation
s that keep them in business.
a failing grade at that time. The tobacco belt members of Provincial Parliament were responsible for scaling back a proposed tobacco tax from $10/carton to $5/carton. They failed to implement a public smoking ban
(until the Smoke Free Ontario law was passed in 2006). On August 8, 2008, tobacco farmer
s in this region were given $300 million to buy out their entire tobacco quota. All of the money was raised from a $1,000,000,000 fine against Imperial Tobacco
and Rothman
's Benson & Hedges
. After receiving the money, farmers that signed the buy-out are permitted to grow any crop except for tobacco; switching to raising livestock like cattle, poultry, or pigs is completely legal under this plan. While the deal will end generation
s of tobacco farming for most families, the deal would also promise that much needed food and ethanol
could possibly be grown in its place. These new crops would serve to quench the increasing demand for renewable fuels and affordable groceries.
Only about one thousand farm families still produce tobacco in the entire belt. Motivation to cease tobacco farming has been also accelerated by health issues and high tobacco tax
es. Farmers who never agreed to the tobacco buy-out may grow as much tobacco as their farmland allows through a special tobacco growing license that was created on the week of May 15, 2009. Relatives of the farmers (either blood relatives or relatives through marriage) who agreed to the buy-out can still grow tobacco on the original farmer's land with a tobacco growing license. However, this right does not extend to the farmer himself who can still manage the farm but not own it in his name. Farmers must also find a company that will buy his product; otherwise he cannot grow tobacco until next year. From the year 2010 onwards, fewer farmers will be growing exactly the same number of tobacco crops that were harvested in the fall of 2009.
However with the summer temperatures of 2009 having been the coldest since 1816
, the number of successful tobacco and food crops were fewer and more expensive because of fears of an early frost that never quite surfaced in 2009. The same effect should be felt months after the severe winter storm
that occurred in late 2009. Even though the Grand River land dispute (formerly known as the Caledonia land dispute) occurred with 100 miles (160.9 km) of the tobacco belt, there has been no attempts by the Native North American
population to reclaim land in the tobacco belt.
center" because of its abundance of water, proximity to urban markets (e.g., Hamilton
, Kitchener
, London
), and a sand
y soil that favors horticulutural crops. As urbanization continues to claim the Niagara Peninsula
, displaced farmers will come to the Ontario tobacco belt seeking acres of land to farm. Their expertise in growing non-tobacco crops will forever change the economy of communities like Tillsonburg and Delhi.
The skills that currently come with working as a tobacco laborer will easily transition over into new jobs in horticulture labor. Most of the jobs (that involve heavy labor) can easily be done by the current population of Jamaica
n and Mexican
transient laborer
s who "reside" in the tobacco belt region from March to November. They won't require a Master's degree
or a doctorate
to continue their laborer role because they are prohibited by the labor programs to be placed in managerial and ownership roles (that require an advanced level of university education).
Tobacco farmers in this region have to deal with the same issues that haunt Europe
an tobacco farmers; farmers are told to grow different crops or go out of business. However, it is difficult to adjust to the changing supply and demand when most farmers are in heavy debt. The economic fallout from the Canadian economic recession also played in role in declining tobacco sales and farmers going deeper into debt. There are also good opportunities for wineries
, peanut
farms, poultry
farms, and apiaries
to fill the void that tobacco leaves behind economically. Most of these alternative crops are either grown or raised in Norfolk County; that is where the cash crush of a declining tobacco market is affecting the most amount of people.
s have been used extensively in the Port Rowan area and in the southwestern part of Norfolk County (particularly near Lake Erie). Port Rowan has seen some wind generators installed in the northern end of their community near their active adult community. Most of them are seen near the communities of Clear Creek, Jacksonburg, Houghton Centre, and Hemlock. Port Dover
(on the easternmost part of the Ontario tobacco belt) has been declared to be the site of future wind generators. Building will complete on the wind generators by early 2013 by the latest.
By harvesting the local wind energy
, it is assumed that electricity could be created closer to home without using fossil fuels and without polluting the atmosphere or the water that people need to live. However, one of the side effects has been the unexplained killing of the bald eagle
species that is being rehabilitated in the area. The project may be considered unsustainable if the mysterious bird killings keep their present pace. However, wind energy supporters have agreed that fossil fuel-based power plants affect the birds much worse than the wind generators. The cost of the wind generator devices (approximately $4 million CAD
per unit) has caused the short-term price of hydroelectric energy
to increase as it became more expensive to deliver the needed energy due to complications with the electricity grid. The conventional Ontario electricity grid had become dependent on fossil fuels, transformer
s, and nuclear energy
for decades before the wind turbines started appearing. However, these concerns are negated by wind energy proponents who say that the turbines could lead to electricity price reductions through lower natural gas prices (due to the reductions in natural gas demand).
The use of fossil fuel
s is becoming less frequent amongst both rural and urban people. Alternative fuels (like wind
from the nearby Erie Shores Wind Farm
and any local solar energy project that will emerge in the future) will eventually relegate the use of fossil fuels to the Middle East
and to developing countries
.
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
-growing region located in Norfolk County
Norfolk County, Ontario
Norfolk County is a rural city-status single-tier municipality on the north shore of Lake Erie in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Bloomsburg is a small town located in Norfolk County and is the hometown of David Slater. The county seat and largest community is Simcoe...
and eastern Elgin County
Elgin County, Ontario
Elgin County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario with a current population of approximately 46,000. The county seat is St. Thomas.It consists of:*Town of Aylmer*Municipality of Bayham*Municipality of Central Elgin...
in Southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, centred on the city of London. It extends north to south from the Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron to the Lake Erie shoreline, and east to south-west roughly from Guelph to Windsor. The region had a population...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Being close to the north shore of Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, the region has moderate climate with sandy and silt-loam soils well-suited to a wide variety of crops. High-value horticultural
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
crops are valuable here and can be grown with relative ease. About 90% of all tobacco grown in Canada is produced here. Members of Parliament elected to ridings in the Ontario tobacco belt have strong pro-tobacco policies in addition to other policies in the interest of their rural constituents.
Historically speaking, the Ontario tobacco belt is considered to be focused in the rural area immediately surrounding the towns of Delhi, Aylmer
Aylmer, Ontario
Aylmer is a town in Elgin County in southern Ontario, Canada, just north of Lake Erie, on Catfish Creek. It is 20 km south of Highway 401...
and Tillsonburg
Tillsonburg, Ontario
Tillsonburg is a town in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada.Tillsonburg is a town of 14,822 located about 50 kilometres southeast of London, on Highway 3 at the junction of Highway 19 the closest route to Highway 401 at Ingersoll, Ontario...
. Additional tobacco farms can be found in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, and near Joliette
Joliette, Quebec
Joliette is a city in southwest Quebec, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Montreal, on the L'Assomption River and is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of Joliette...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. United Empire Loyalists introduced this crop after fleeing from their tobacco farms following the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. However, the first official tobacco plot wasn't planted in Norfolk County until 1920. While Canadian tobacco farmers (especially those in the Ontario tobacco belt) see themselves as "innocent victims" of government tobacco regulations, most of them started farming after the Canadian government started its health scares. As the older farmers retire, their children will most likely seek different career paths. Tobacco farms would eventually be sold to their neighbors; this has a domino effect
Domino effect
The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes...
. This domino effect ultimately results in fewer farmers having more acreage creating a further sense of economic inequality
Economic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
in the area. The irony comes from the fact that farmers protest against the regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
s that keep them in business.
Recent history
An overnight frost in the early fall of 1999 damaged the unharvested crops of one hundred local tobacco farms; Norfolk County, Brant County, and Oxford County were affected in the disaster. In 2002, politicians from the Ontario tobacco belt opposed several anti-smoking measures, causing a non-smoking group to give the Ontario governmentGovernment of Ontario
The Government of Ontario refers to the provincial government of the province of Ontario, Canada. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....
a failing grade at that time. The tobacco belt members of Provincial Parliament were responsible for scaling back a proposed tobacco tax from $10/carton to $5/carton. They failed to implement a public smoking ban
Smoking ban
Smoking bans are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, which prohibit tobacco smoking in workplaces and/or other public spaces...
(until the Smoke Free Ontario law was passed in 2006). On August 8, 2008, tobacco farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s in this region were given $300 million to buy out their entire tobacco quota. All of the money was raised from a $1,000,000,000 fine against Imperial Tobacco
Imperial Tobacco
Imperial Tobacco is a global tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom. It is the world’s fourth-largest cigarette company measured by market share , and the world's largest producer of cigars, fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers...
and Rothman
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. is a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of tobacco products. It was formed by the merger of the Canadian units of Rothmans International and Benson & Hedges, owned by Philip Morris. When British American Tobacco bought Rothmans in 1999, it spun off its 60% share...
's Benson & Hedges
Benson & Hedges
Benson & Hedges is a British brand of cigarettes owned by the Gallaher Group, which became a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco in 2007. They are registered in Old Bond Street in London, and are manufactured in Lisnafillen, Ballymena, Northern Ireland for the UK and Irish markets.-History:Benson & Hedges...
. After receiving the money, farmers that signed the buy-out are permitted to grow any crop except for tobacco; switching to raising livestock like cattle, poultry, or pigs is completely legal under this plan. While the deal will end generation
Generation
Generation , also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring....
s of tobacco farming for most families, the deal would also promise that much needed food and ethanol
Ethanol fuel
Ethanol fuel is ethanol , the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. World ethanol production for transport fuel tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion to more than 52 billion litres...
could possibly be grown in its place. These new crops would serve to quench the increasing demand for renewable fuels and affordable groceries.
Only about one thousand farm families still produce tobacco in the entire belt. Motivation to cease tobacco farming has been also accelerated by health issues and high tobacco tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es. Farmers who never agreed to the tobacco buy-out may grow as much tobacco as their farmland allows through a special tobacco growing license that was created on the week of May 15, 2009. Relatives of the farmers (either blood relatives or relatives through marriage) who agreed to the buy-out can still grow tobacco on the original farmer's land with a tobacco growing license. However, this right does not extend to the farmer himself who can still manage the farm but not own it in his name. Farmers must also find a company that will buy his product; otherwise he cannot grow tobacco until next year. From the year 2010 onwards, fewer farmers will be growing exactly the same number of tobacco crops that were harvested in the fall of 2009.
However with the summer temperatures of 2009 having been the coldest since 1816
Year Without a Summer
The Year Without a Summer was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities caused average global temperatures to decrease by about 0.4–0.7 °C , resulting in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere...
, the number of successful tobacco and food crops were fewer and more expensive because of fears of an early frost that never quite surfaced in 2009. The same effect should be felt months after the severe winter storm
2009 North American Christmas winter storm
The 2009 North American Christmas blizzard was a winter storm and severe weather event affecting the Midwestern United States, Great Plains, Southeastern United States, Eastern Seaboard and parts of Ontario. The storm started on December 22, was reported to have claimed at least 21 lives, and...
that occurred in late 2009. Even though the Grand River land dispute (formerly known as the Caledonia land dispute) occurred with 100 miles (160.9 km) of the tobacco belt, there has been no attempts by the Native North American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
population to reclaim land in the tobacco belt.
Horticulture and animal farming
Compared to 1998, tobacco farming is down by 60% and falling. It is possible that this tobacco industry will never recover and disappear forever. By 2020, the Ontario tobacco belt will become the "Ontario horticulturalHorticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
center" because of its abundance of water, proximity to urban markets (e.g., Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
, London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
), and a sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
y soil that favors horticulutural crops. As urbanization continues to claim the Niagara Peninsula
Niagara Peninsula
The Niagara Peninsula is the portion of Southern Ontario, Canada lying between the south shore of Lake Ontario and the north shore of Lake Erie. It stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario in the west. The population of the peninsula is roughly 1,000,000 people...
, displaced farmers will come to the Ontario tobacco belt seeking acres of land to farm. Their expertise in growing non-tobacco crops will forever change the economy of communities like Tillsonburg and Delhi.
The skills that currently come with working as a tobacco laborer will easily transition over into new jobs in horticulture labor. Most of the jobs (that involve heavy labor) can easily be done by the current population of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n and Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
transient laborer
Transient laborer
Transient laborers are people who offer their services for outdoor, usually home improvement work, for a fee. The term is chiefly American.Jobs include painting, driveway paving, snow removal, and other outdoor tasks. They may travel door-to-door to find work, usually in warm weather, and have a...
s who "reside" in the tobacco belt region from March to November. They won't require a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
or a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
to continue their laborer role because they are prohibited by the labor programs to be placed in managerial and ownership roles (that require an advanced level of university education).
Tobacco farmers in this region have to deal with the same issues that haunt Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an tobacco farmers; farmers are told to grow different crops or go out of business. However, it is difficult to adjust to the changing supply and demand when most farmers are in heavy debt. The economic fallout from the Canadian economic recession also played in role in declining tobacco sales and farmers going deeper into debt. There are also good opportunities for wineries
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
, peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
farms, poultry
Poultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
farms, and apiaries
Apiary
An apiary is a place where beehives of honey bees are kept. Traditionally beekeepers paid land rent in honey for the use of small parcels. Some farmers will provide free apiary sites, because they need pollination, and farmers who need many hives often pay for them to be moved to the crops when...
to fill the void that tobacco leaves behind economically. Most of these alternative crops are either grown or raised in Norfolk County; that is where the cash crush of a declining tobacco market is affecting the most amount of people.
Wind generators
Wind generatorWind generator
A wind generator is a device that generates electrical power from wind energy.Wind generators have traditionally been wind turbines, i.e. a propeller attached to an electric generator attached to appropriate electronics to attach it to the electrical grid or to charge batteries.Recently, however, a...
s have been used extensively in the Port Rowan area and in the southwestern part of Norfolk County (particularly near Lake Erie). Port Rowan has seen some wind generators installed in the northern end of their community near their active adult community. Most of them are seen near the communities of Clear Creek, Jacksonburg, Houghton Centre, and Hemlock. Port Dover
Port Dover, Ontario
Port Dover is an unincorporated community and former town located in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada on the north shore of Lake Erie.The community was the subject of an American raid during the War of 1812, on May 14, 1814....
(on the easternmost part of the Ontario tobacco belt) has been declared to be the site of future wind generators. Building will complete on the wind generators by early 2013 by the latest.
By harvesting the local wind energy
Wind energy
Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...
, it is assumed that electricity could be created closer to home without using fossil fuels and without polluting the atmosphere or the water that people need to live. However, one of the side effects has been the unexplained killing of the bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
species that is being rehabilitated in the area. The project may be considered unsustainable if the mysterious bird killings keep their present pace. However, wind energy supporters have agreed that fossil fuel-based power plants affect the birds much worse than the wind generators. The cost of the wind generator devices (approximately $4 million CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
per unit) has caused the short-term price of hydroelectric energy
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
to increase as it became more expensive to deliver the needed energy due to complications with the electricity grid. The conventional Ontario electricity grid had become dependent on fossil fuels, transformer
Transformer
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...
s, and nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
for decades before the wind turbines started appearing. However, these concerns are negated by wind energy proponents who say that the turbines could lead to electricity price reductions through lower natural gas prices (due to the reductions in natural gas demand).
The use of fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
s is becoming less frequent amongst both rural and urban people. Alternative fuels (like wind
Wind energy
Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...
from the nearby Erie Shores Wind Farm
Erie Shores Wind Farm
Erie Shores Wind Farm is a large wind farm near Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada. The facility stretches approximately to the west of the town, and to the southeast....
and any local solar energy project that will emerge in the future) will eventually relegate the use of fossil fuels to the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and to developing countries
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
.