When one thinks of agriculture they tend to imagine green pastures and the plowing of rich soil. In reality, agriculture is a major contributor to global warming due to the all the harmful chemicals that are utilized. Due to deforestation erosion occurs, which results in the loss of biodiversity. The main problem is that agriculture is where we get most of our food supply, therefore we cannot just suddenly stop the practice of agriculture. With our population only increasing we need to figure out a way to efficiently and safely produce more food. Our current population is approximately 7.8 billion people and we have yet to find a solution to end world hunger. Famine has always been an issue that no one has offered a solution to. This is why …show more content…
The surprising fact is that the world is able to produce enough food for 7.8 billion people. So the question is how is that there are still people who are suffering from famine? By 2050 it is estimated that the population will grow up to 9 billion and it is important that we are able to produce enough food to sustain that amount of people. As a modern world of industry, many people believe conventional farming is the solution. They believe that modern machines and improved genetics will make it easier to feed everyone. Other traditional people believe that organic farming is the solution. Organic farming does not use synthetic fertilizers which would mean it is better for the environment. Both practices are solutions for keeping the environment safe and being able to feed the whole population. Whatever the solution is, it is important that it secures food for everyone in the …show more content…
A major topic that has been popular recently are the effects of global warming. It is causing dramatic climate changes. Ironically, harmful chemicals used in agriculture contribute to global warming. Due to global warming the climate will become unpredictable and it will become difficult to grow crops. The growing of crops requires a good amount of land and right now according to the article, A Five-Step Plan to Feed the World, 38.6% of all land is used for agriculture. Since the population is predicted to increase, we will need more land for growing crops and grazing livestock. The only way we can get more land is to cut down trees and clear the land. Cutting down trees destroys many animal’s natural habitats and it has negative consequences on the environment. Trees are so vital because they help to absorb dangerous greenhouse gases. We need to figure out an efficient way to use the land we already have for agriculture and preserve our
Land use changes, as described by Lappé, include every change of land in order to produce, or distribute, food. Annually, forests, bogs, swamps, rain forests, and other biomes are Ableman 1 destroyed for agricultural purpose. Destruction of these biomes lead to the release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which is the most prominent greenhouse gas. The second “connection” in The Climate Crisis at the End of Our Fork is the “agricultural connection.”
As the population grows there will not be enough land and water available to meet the population’s demands. Climate change is also taking a toll on the agriculture industry. Global warming is changing the length of growing seasons for farmers. While northern countries are benefiting from this change, the southern countries are experiencing shorter growing periods.
In the article,” Why Bother” written by Michael Pollen, he explains how the environment has gotten very bad over time. He talks about sustainability, global warming, and the cheap-energy mind in his article. He tells us that we need to act now before the phenomenon gets worse. Have you paid attention to the environment lately? Have you noticed the rising temperature around the world? Have you noticed the melting of the ice caps? If you haven’t you are about to be in for a surprise. The world has gotten very bad and we need to act now. There are a lot of causes to the environmental problems. The main cause are from farmers all around the world. Farmers are a lot more technologically advanced then what they were 50 years ago compared to now. The problem with the farmers are the overuse of energy, erosion of the soil, and pollution. The answer to all of these problems is sustainable agriculture because it is more efficient and better for the environment.
After learning about the statistics of how much agriculture consumes our planet, I was appalled to see how destructive it is. Jonathan Foley put into perspective the increase and rapid demand for food. Agriculture alone consumes 40% of our land surface, 70% of our irrigation system, and
The excess of carbon in the atmosphere is the cause of global climate change. To reverse global warming we must balance the carbon cycle by removing carbon from the atmosphere and returning it to the plants and to the soil (4). Though in the end, carbon exists in everything and the carbon cycle is much more complex because it includes every plant, animal, microbe, fallen tree, body of water, bit of soil, breath of air, plume of smoke, combustion of fossil fuel, decaying particle, and bubble popping to the surface of a swamp (5). Industrial farming has disrupted this cycle. If we completely halted the burning of fossil fuels today, which we can not by any means, climate change would still continue through modern agriculture. The key to reversing global warming is not solely through solar panels and ethanol fuel, but in proper symbiotic farming
Stop cutting down trees, cutting down trees is the prime reason of the climate change shocking, every year 33 millions acres of forests are cut down. If we improve the agricultural practices witch includes forest management and proper paper recycling, there is a change that an equilibrium could be maintained of cutting trees and planting new trees.
Many support agricultural modernization, as a solution Africa’s, and many other impoverished nations hunger problems. This would include the industrialization of their agricultural industry, using modern, genetically enhanced seeds, and fertilizer. Yet, some of the same groups that are promoting the organic movement in the United States are advocating against the globalization of modern industrial agricultural practices (Paarlberg 179). Those who support modernization of such nations argue that the current process in inefficient, and inadequate. They believe that globalization of the highly capitalized, science-intensive, agricultural system that has been developed in the West, is the answer to the worlds hunger problems. They also warn that if the West abandons its current practices, it may fall victim to famine due to inadequate production (Paarlberg 179). However, supporters of organic production point to the fact that each year, approximately ten million tons of chemical fertilizer are poured onto our corn
Some of that is deforestation, but the use of fossil-based fertilizers and the burning of biomass are the other two major drivers (Climate Institute). On the other side of the spectrum, as the Earth warms, changes that can be expected that relate to agriculture include a shift in agriculture zones away from the equator, a short-term boost in agricultural productivity through carbon dioxide pumping into the atmosphere, changes in rainfall, and changes in production patterns (Climate Institute). This will include some increased productivity, but it will also mean greater food insecurity, shifting land politics, and a scramble to adjust to new production patterns. Any improvements in productivity will be isolated and short-term. Shifts in where foods can be grown will reward the wealthy and punish – often fatally – the poor farmer who will have the seeds that have been married to the particular soil in which they are grown for centuries and millennia. Food crises will lead to food riots worldwide – which have already
Many things are being done to help resolve this issue. More land is being made available for farm use (Clemmitt 555). On top of increasing farmland, farmers have also been learning how to use more effective techniques to ensure a successful harvest (Clemmitt 559). In order to fix the issue of starvation and malnutrition, from the lack of food, "we must first fix the political and economic issues", say many scholars (Clemmitt 565). Money is a major issue for the citizens in the United States. The amount of food isn't the first problem; it's not having enough money to buy the food that is available (Clemmitt 567). There are many issues with not being able to obtain food. The only issues that cannot be fixed are natural disasters, like hurricanes and tornadoes (Clemmitt 566). Although with all the technology in the world we cannot control Mother Nature. Technique is an important key to a successful harvest. Some farmers believe monoculture would be the best technique because it produces a large amount of one crop. The technique is effective and efficient but it’s harmful to earth's biodiversity. Thankfully there is a large amount of people in the next generation who are taking an interest in farming. This may help with the growth of farming, and fixing the issue of starvation. Genetically modified food is created in a way to grow quicker and easier than regular crops (McLure 719 720). Genetically modified foods have many helpful traits like being resistant to weeds. Another helpful trait of genetically modified food is it can grow in large amounts (McLure 721). The way the modified food is designed to help with growing large amounts with less acreage. The modified food, and organics, is believed to be cheaper because they do not require fertilizer (Kiener 820). Farmers are now trying to convince others to decrease or even stop the use of biofuel. It's becoming known that biofuel is taking away the amount of
Agriculture contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions. The “agriculture connection” is any direct impacts agriculture has on climatic change. “Carbon dioxide is the
The affect of environmental issues occur everyday and in particular deforestation is becoming a highly ranked subject. From animals to the human race, the alacrity of trees that are cut down affects every individual in a variety of ways. Not only do people need to help the planet but they need to help themselves and further generations to come, such as children and grandchildren because these natural resources that are being taken away from society are as well shaping the future. For comprehensible reasons, forests use to make up the world, until man made creatures started to destroy and destruct the most important supply to human kind which are trees. Trees are crucial to every living entity for the reason of providing oxygen to all.
Humans have always depended on the Earth to survive; it provides many resources that are essential to life. In recent years, people have been massively depleting these resources and destroying Mother Nature. Temperatures are rising, causing increased and dangerous natural disasters. Pollution is seeping into the already dangerously low water supply. Copious amounts of waste are disturbing the natural cycles and patterns of the Earth. Although there are many contributing factors, there is one that is dominant for the entire globe. This dominant factor is factory farming, which is the mass production of animals. This trend towards mass production that has been around since the 1970s, contributes to global warming, water depletion, and creates ruptures in the nitrogen cycle.
Global Warming is a rising issue for all the creatures on the Earth. Scientists haven been discovering the reasons and solutions for the global environmental changes for decades. Also, because of the effort of the scientists and media, people got aware of the great impacts of green house effect. However, most people only know that global warming is caused by the industries, manufactures or transportations, and neglect another huge factor of the environment, the food industry, and to be specific, the livestock production. In this proposal, I will mainly introduce my topic which is “Food industry, livestock production, and global warming, develop the questions for my future assignments, discuss the importance of this topic, state the reasons why the topic is interesting, and share my personal experience related to the topic.
The case for attributing the recent global warming to human activities rests on the following undisputed scientific facts:
Deforestation for agricultural purposes and the expansion of human habitats is happening around the world. This