Environmental Issues Affecting The Exploitation Of Renewable Resources From Agricultural And Forest Remnant

With the seemingly unstoppable growth of the world’s population and a projected global population of nine billion by 2050, the matter of whether or not there will be enough food to support the world’s populace is brought into question (Parfitt, et al., 2010). However, amid the concern for an adequate food supply, there is an immense amount of food waste produced by the world, including the United States. In fact, “according to the Natural Resources Defense Council as much as 40 percent of all food produced in the United States never gets eaten and typically ends up in the landfills or goes unharvested in the field “(King, 2015).

There is enough food waste in America to fill up 730 football stadiums. Yet, ironically there were almost 50 million people who live in households that are food-insecure in 2013. Thus, it is critically important to help reduce (or at the very least reevaluate) the amount of food that is wasted so it can be used to help those who can’t always afford it, or, help to reduce the impact of methane released by landfills, or, help to use less resources gone into making the produce.

"Food Waste: Causes, Effects, and Solutions." Farm Together Now The Book and Blog. N.p., 08 Nov. 2014. Web. 04 May 2016.

Like energy crops, BSFL have not been previously digested and thus may offer higher bio-methane potential than manures or biowastes. However, unlike energy crops, BSFL would not compete with food crops in agricultural land usage, and pose the associated environmental issues such as soil erosion and pesticide leakage to surface and ground water (EEA, 2006). Furthermore, BSFL have a high per-acre productivity, fast growth rate, and can be grown on non-arable land areas similar to algae. However, harvesting and valorization of algae biomass require significant water use and high capital and operation costs, which make it economically challenging (Mussgnug et al., 2010).

Food waste is defined as food that can be consumed but for whatever reason goes uneaten. It was first addressed in 1977 when a report was sent to congress from the General Accounting Office. Within the report the United States Department of Agriculture’s role in food waste as well as several other aspects of food waste such as pollution and growing populations are still relevant today were spoken of (Buzby et al. 1). However in the years following the publication of this report, food waste has not lessened and instead has exponentially worsened from twenty percent in 1977 to forty percent as of 2012 (Finn et al.

Food waste has significantly impacted the environment. Preventing food waste from ending up in landfills not only saves space in landfills, but also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Martin, 2008). “In landfills, organic materials, like food scraps and yard trimmings, are broken down by bacteria to produce methane. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is shown to have a warming potential of twenty-one times that of carbon dioxide” (Reducing Food Waste, 2013). “Landfills are the largest human-related source of methane in the United States, accounting for thirty-four percent of all methane emissions” (Main,

There are billions of people struggling every day to have enough to eat, and billions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is gaining increasing awareness as a serious environmental and economic issue. Research shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million tons of it end up in landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local government this economic crisis is worldwide! My research estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s hungry people, but it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste, it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa. The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste. Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like global warming, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost. Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Factory farming reduced the amount of land needed for meat production, however, these farms are a serious water pollutant. The waste of these animals ends up in the surrounding water and poses the constant threat of drinking water contamination. Runoff from factory farms and livestock grazing are one of the leading causes of pollution in rivers and lakes. The EPA notes that “bacteria and viruses can be carried by the runoff and that groundwater can be contaminated.” The huge quantities of animal waste runoff produced by these operations leech into the water supply and affect the natural aquatic life cycle. Livestock manure is rich in nitrogen, phosphorous, and other fertilizers. These chemicals eventually work their way into our stream, rivers

This treatment of animal waste is dangerous and could lead to serious consequences. For example, the organoarsenicals in fertilizer are consumed by poultry, high levels of arsenic are found in the tissue of animals, and then poultry waste is used as a fertilizer. The incineration causes arsenic to be released into the air, this is an issue for communities surrounding the area. This constant entrance of organoarsenicals into the environ-ment causes a risk for soil and groundwater becomes of less quality. In the United States 61% of farmers sell litter based fertilizers and 23% use their own animal waste as soil fertilizer (Kiranma-yi). The use of animal waste as fertilizer is a positively impactful option for the environment when treated with care and managed properly. It is easier to manage on small farms as the farm-ers can simply move their animals around the acreage spreading the waste equally. This technique keeps the waste light on one spot allowing it to not overwhelm the soil. However, it is also crucial to consider the chemicals inside the waste, and currently it is not cost effective for large scale farmers or CAFOs to use environmentally friendly fertilizers and animal feed. Farmers also put antibiotics into their animals to speed up growth, these antibiotics contribute to the waste prob-lem (Tasho). They pass through the animal

1.3 billion tons of food is wasted every year on the planet, which means that almost half of the food production in the entire world is wasted each year. Food waste appears when food products are being thrown away without having been consumed by anyone. Thus, food wastes can arise directly from the consumer’s house, whenever people forget to eat the food and it starts to rot and they are obliged to throw it, or it may be a result of food losses during the production and transportation processes. In addition, over 30% of the fruits and vegetables in North America are not even displayed in grocery stores because they are not pretty enough. Food waste represents a major issue in today’s world where, inter alia, climate changes are noticeable and

While the world’s farmers produce enough food to feed the planet, one-third of the food produced for human consumption is not really consumed. Globally, there exists up to 1.3 billion metric tons of uneaten food very year. And in addition to that, growing and transporting that food is estimated to create 3.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, which makes wasted food one of the world’s largest emission contributor.

Global meat production rose to a new peak of 308.5 million tons in 2013, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a more than fourfold increase over the last five decades. Even more startlingly, meat production has grown 25-fold since 1800 (Horrigan, Lawerence &Walker, 2002). Globally, agriculture utilizes nearly 70 per cent of the world 's available freshwater. One-third of that percentage is used to grow grains to feed to livestock (ECOS, 2014). While the global meat industry provides food and a livelihood for billions of people, it also has significant environmental and health consequences for the planet. Over half of the water used in meat production

There are billions of people struggling every day to have enough to eat, and billions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is gaining increasing awareness as a serious environmental and economic issue. Research shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million tons of it end up in landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local government this economic crisis is worldwide! My research estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s hungry people, but it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste, it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa. The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste. Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like global warming, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost. Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent

In the world of global warming, all kinds of pollution and fuel shortages going on, renewable and clean/ green energy is increasingly the ideal solution of energy related problems we have to solve one way or another. Biofuel is one of the mainstream and highly supported solutions nowadays, an idea to make renewable fuel by living organisms such as fiber, corn, vegetable oil or sugar cane. Unlike nonrenewable fossil fuels over extracted by people causing various environmental problems like generating a considerable amount greenhouse gas, current technology already lets renewable fuel like biofuels to shrink a certain amount of greenhouse gas production, making it a more ‘clean’ source of energy.

The issue of food waste is one that many people might not consider to be serious, but it is critical to the environment that a solution is devised. Fortunately, there are many simple things that people all over the world can do to keep the Earth healthy. First, if farmers and agricultural employees would prevent overgrazing, pesticide pollution, and over plowing, water would be saved, and the general health of the