Food Production And Its Effects On The World Essay

The global population is expected to reach 9 billion people by the year 2050 and scientific projections indicate that world is on a trajectory towards an environmental and global food crisis. World Leaders, environmental enthusiasts and aid agencies have cause for alarm as they support urgent policies for change, for without them mankind will face unprecedented food insecurity. In 2015 estimates were that there were “some 795 million people” [World Food Programme, 2015], experiencing food insecurity and 3.1 million children under 5 died through malnutrition, while Australians continue to waste an estimated 361 Kg’s of food per person per yr [PMSEIC, 2010, p.44] All the while the earth groans under the weight of Greenhouse Gas Emissions [GHG], deforestation, soil degradation and

Agriculture contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions. The “agriculture connection” is any direct impacts agriculture has on climatic change. “Carbon dioxide is the

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

Animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change; however, this fact goes unacknowledged by most people. Livestock and their byproducts produce monstrous amounts

Introduction (Attention Step): What do you think is the greatest cause of emission pollution? What do you believe is harming our planet? Well if you guessed that fossil fuel emissions are the biggest emission polluters, then you are completely wrong (attention getter). Animal Agriculture is actually the number one Greenhouse Gas emitter in the planet. Yes, cow farts are destroying the environment. It sounds crazy, but ever since the mid 60’s, agriculture associations have been spreading across the Americas and dominated the industry. The most destructive of all Ag corps are Livestock Corporation. These associations include IBP, Conagra, Perdue, Farmland National Beef, Cargill, etc … Animal Agriculture is effecting every single person in this room because we all breathe in the same air, drink the same water, and eat the same (credibility). The buildup of Animal Agriculture is a great destruction to our planet and our species because it is creating

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

The “agricultural connection” is defined by direct effects agriculture has on climatic change. The article states that 13.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are due to food production (particularly in the livestock industry), and approximately seventy percent of the world’s available freshwater is used for irrigation purposes in agriculture. The third “connection” between global warming and the food industry in the article deals with how food is distributed throughout the world and how the byproducts of agriculture are disposed of. The “waste and transportation connection” emerges from the idea of more conventional global warming thinking: the burning of fossil fuels as well as garbage disposal.

It is no secret that meat plays an enormous role in the diet and culture of many countries. Each year, approximately 56 billion land animals are raised and killed worldwide for human consumption (Edwards). By 2050, this figure is predicted to double, making animal production growth rate higher than any other agricultural sub sector in the developed world. Over the last decade, small and medium livestock farms have been replaced by large industrialized factory farms, raising large numbers of livestock indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost (Edwards). These sentient beings suffer from intense confinement and as research reveals, we are being forced to either change our ways or face devastating consequences as discussed in this paper. Meat, egg, and milk production are not only focused on the slaughtering of farm animals, but the animal agriculture sector also includes feed grain production and energy expenditures to transport feed, live animals, and animal products, which requires large amounts of

As the Earth’s population grows at breakneck pace over the next several decades, who will feed the world’s people? Agriculture has undergone an extensive expansion and transformation throughout the last few centuries, beginning with the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s. New technology allowed for better and greater methods of production. With the development of modern technology, people try to think some way can plant less, get more. Many farmers plant only one crop in the same place year after year. However, those against monocropping claim that it is very hard on the environment and actually less profitable than organic means of farming (“Monoculture Crops – Learn About The Effects Of Monocropping”). In addition, the destructive nature of agriculture has recently shown its hand. While our supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants are filled with abundant food options, people forget to ask themselves where all this food comes from. Globalization has opened up economies of scale and has allowed people to tap into different types of products, whether that is food or clothing. But the availability of an increased mass market comes at a cost. However, today, the modern farming techniques have grown into a headache for farmers and governments alike, because they are the consequences of overproduction, industrial waste and other problems arising from the modern methods of agriculture. Thus, modern techniques are harmful to environments, animals, and humans.

Scientist have proven that global climate change is a direct result of mankind and is not in fact caused by natural occurrences. In addition, Walsh agrees with recent studies that the raising of livestock might be the biggest impact humans have on the planet today. Nonetheless, this impact is nothing to be proud of when animal agriculture takes up 40 percent of our earth’s land alone, is the cause of the world’s methane emissions by up to 40 percent and even 66

Food insecurity has been affecting the US population as about more than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket. These communities are much known since they lack access to affordable, nutritious food. Vault and healthy food should be affordable; policy or a plan that would improve our food supply or the health of the population should be put into consideration in order to enhance the American population’s public health.

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”- Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist

Many negative environmental impact from unsustainable farming practices include; Land conversion and habitat loss, Wasteful water consumption, and Soil erosion and degradation (“Environmental Impacts of Farming”).There are many different types of harmful gases are released into the atmosphere. Many of these gases are potent greenhouse gases, which contribute to environmental damage and climate change (“How Factory Farming Creates Air Pollution”) Scientists are still researching, but data shows factory farms create a mass production of manure that they toss into huge lagoons which goes up into the atmosphere. Over 37 percent of methane emissions result from factory farming. Methane has a global warming potential 20 times higher than carbon dioxide. The industrialized animal facilities have caused serious respiratory and cardiac disorders (“Pollution Water, Air, Chemicals”). Most factory farming has a negative effect on our environment, and will affect many forests, animal life, and soil. Many trees are going extinct because factory farms want to expand, and cut down the trees. Trees like the Hinton’s Oak is going extinct because of farmer’s selfishness, and pollution

The sector emits significant amounts of three of the most important GHGs: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). In fact, globally the farm animal sector accounts for: 9% of human-induced CO2 emissions, 35-40% of human-induced CH4 emissions, which has 25 times the global warming potential (GWP), or power, of CO2 over 100 years, and 65% of human-induced N2O emissions, which has about 300 times the GWP of CO2.” The Humane Society International explains here that animal agriculture is responsible for up to 65% of our emissions of these compounds, and shows that animal agriculture contributes to more emissions of the most powerful substances, while it contributes less to the weaker ones. While animal agriculture isn’t responsible for all of our pollution, it definitely plays a major role in the way we affect our

We live in an age in which we have come to expect everything to be instantaneously at our fingertips. We live in an age of instant coffee, instant tea, and even instant mashed potatoes. We can walk down the street at 5 in the morning and get a gallon of milk or even a weeks worth of groceries at our discretion. Even though it is great that food is now readily available at all times, this convenience comes at a price, for both the producer and the consumer. Farmers are cheated out of money and are slaves to big business, workers and animals are mistreated. And, because food now comes at a low cost, it has become cheaper quality and therefore potentially dangerous to the consumer’s health. These problems surrounding the ethics and the