Impact of Modern Consumption on the Environment
Section 1. Environmental Health Impacts
Jonathon Foley studies complex environmental systems and their affects on society. He had been studying the impact that agriculture has been having on our planet and presented his findings at a Ted Talk. He found that agriculture has been draining the earth's natural resources, but no one seems to know about it. Over consumption and the world's growing population has both impacted humanity's role in draining the earth's natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions. The reason this Ted Talk is called "The other Inconvenient Truth" is because people always only seem to think about climate change and energy when they think of the environment and greenhouse gasses. People seem to forget, or not know, that agriculture also plays a huge factor in this. Agriculture is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses. Carbon dioxide from burning tropical rainforests, methane from cows and rice, nitrous oxide from fertilizers all contribute to making agriculture worth 30% of the greenhouse gasses going into the atmosphere from humans. This 30% is the largest emitter of greenhouse activity in the world. The difficult part about this though is that all humans depend on agriculture. People need to eat and the only way to do that is by growing food or killing cattle. This problem will only get worse as time goes on with our growing world population. There at 7 billion people on earth that's only expected to rise up towards 9.5 billion. It is a bit of a catch 22. The world is only getting wealthier and more educated with people learning what foods are good for them. This is leading to an increase in dietary consumption of meat, which uses more resources than a vegetarian diet does. At this pace, by the end of the century we will need to at least double global agriculture production. The question here is how we produce more food for our growing population, without hurting the environment and wasting our natural recourses?
Agriculture's Share of Total Environmental Impact
Section 2. Similar Human Impact
I feel that this environmental impact is similar to another impact that we have discussed in class, the oil drilling industry. These two are similar because both agriculture and oil seem to be necessary in our world today. I need to put gas in my car to get around, I need to be able to heat my home and keep it lit with electricity just like how I need to eat food to survive. These industries are different however by what parts of the environment are affected. Oil drilling impacts bodies of water and can devastate the indigenous people that are living around there if it contaminates their water. Agriculture however impacts the atmosphere with greenhouse gas emissions. Humans don't directly feel the affect of agriculture right away like the people living around oil drills feel impacted. I'd say another difference between these two is how to solve the problem. Everyone is by now aware that we greatly over consume oil and should go electric. Electric cars have been out for a while now and are accessible to people. The problem with agriculture is that most people don't know what to do solve the problem. Before watching this Ted Talk I had no idea that agriculture was bad for the environment. People need to start realizing that this is a problem and some action must be taken.
Oil Drill near Scotland
Section 3. Role of a Keene State College Student
The role of a typical Keene State College student in the use of these resources is the same as everybody else in the world. We all eat and we all need to eat. Everybody in the world has played a role in this environmental crisis whether they know it or not. The issue with solving this problem is that there is not just one simple solution. Changing any one thing about how agriculture is done will not solve this problem. It is going to take multiple things to change for us to see a difference in agriculture's greenhouse emissions. Some of the things that will need to be done to see change is to provide incentives for farmers, new crop variants, gray water recycling, better tillage practices, smarter diets, etc. The hard part about this is that there isn't much for an average person to do to change anything. Other than smarter diets and knowing where and how their food was made, there isn't much that can be done by just one single person. This change will need to be pushed for and implemented by world leaders and governments. An average everyday person won't be able to change the way in which 7 billion people get their food and how their food is made, but world leaders would be able to force that change.
Section 3 Continued: As I stated above, the issue with this problem is that there is not one single thing that can be done by one single individual that will solve this problem. The only way that we are going to see real change is for governments to pass legislation. The agriculture industry is massive and far outweighs any choices that one single person can make. According to foodinsight.org, "it is important that food producers, food industry professionals and consumers set their sights on actions to help alleviate these stressors - including decreasing greenhouse gas emissions." (foodinsight.org) I find it interesting that this article only focuses on what needs to be done to change the agriculture industry as a whole, rather than what individual citizens can do. With that being said, it seems clear that legislation will need to be passed to change the industry and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. I think that giving incentives to farmers is the best way to go about making change. People don't like to be told what to do or forced to change. But if you provide incentives, then they will see it making a change isn't just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do economically. Until this happens, nothing will change, and we will continue our downward spiral.
Organic Farming
As a carnivore, it is disappointing to learn that I am contributing to a big factor to greenhouse gasses and climate change. I have lived my whole life eating meat and most people I know do the same, unknowingly increasing the amount of greenhouse gasses that are let into our atmosphere. We are told that eating meat strengthens our bodily systems, but we aren’t told in the long run it will be a big source to the downfall of humankind if nothing changes. The 30% number is new to me, sharing how 30% of greenhouse gasses comes from agriculture. I liked the technical component of including how Keene students only play a small part of the whole picture regarding this environmental crisis. The quote you used “We all eat and we all need to eat” is a perfect rendition of part of the problem of human necessity, we all eat without thinking about what it is doing to the earth we live on. This post makes me think about the amount of driving most people do, blind to the effect it is having on our environment. Things like agriculture and transportation have become necessary to the point where the negative effects are swept under the rug of life. After reading this post, I thought about all the processed meat I have eaten and the hundreds of thousands of miles I have driven, taking advantage of it because of the availability to do these things.
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