Since most of you are in APUSH (not me), I'm sure you all know to some degree about the great Dust Bowl in the early 1930's and how this pushed many workers to the west (Of Mice and Men!) But did you know the reason for the sudden surge of dirt and dust blowing through the wind? People have been planting in the Great Plains the same crops season after season and knew nothing about replenishing the soil's nutrients and moisture. Because the plains states are typically dry for most of the year, drought was always a worry in the farmers minds, but they never had to deal with an outrageous lack of water. All of a sudden, the delicate balance in the farms tipped and a drought struck. Not only was that bad enough, but the luscious and rich topsoil came loose and blew throughout the land. This precious topsoil was what gave the farmers such bountiful crops year after year, but it all turned to dust. This caused great economic pain and now the land functions at a fraction of what it used to.
You'd think that we would have learned our lesson and paid more attention to the quality of the soil, but that is not the case. We've begun to destroy our remaining soil especially through the use of chemical fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizer consists largely of ammonia. To produce the massive amounts of ammonia needed to feed the crops, 33,00 cubic feet of natural gas is used to produce one ton of the ammonia. This continued cycle causes ultimate dependence on fossil fuels, but, guess what, they will run out (yes, the rumors are true). More than half the nitrogen and ammonia fertilizer isn't used by the crop, but is lost through nitrate conversion into gas and its leakage back into the soil and water supply, but now it is a harmful, not helpful, chemical.
Not only does the demand for such high quantities of natural gas significantly increase the carbon footprint of our food system and crops, but the Earth is losing topsoil 10 times faster than we are making it. This upside down figure will fail to sustain us forever and it needs to improve. Because we are losing this topsoil, it is also releasing carbon dioxide into the air, adding more unwanted greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.
We can slow down this dependence on chemicals and loss of soil if we use natural/organic fertilizers and support crop diversity (plant corn one year, then beans the next so the exhausted minerals can naturally replenish).
GO GREEN!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Book Post 5: Global Warming
I realize that this is sort of branching off the the thing I just posted, but once I read a bit about the global warming effect of the food industry, it seemed like a good topic to continue with. Especially for a book post.
So we all know kind of what global warming is. But how food affects it is definitely not a common topic for conversation. However, Anna Lappe kicks her book off with it, and it really is an overlooked subject. Like I threw in my last post, 1/3 of Greenhouse Gases come from the agricultural business. That's a substantial amount more than all the vehicles around the world. We as Americans tend to focus a lot on green solutions for cars, which is definitely important, but how about the water bottles we throw away, the food we waste, the plastic bags from the grocery we toss (these can be reused for so many things!). Not eating locally can be a huge problem as well. If you get a local apple as opposed to an apple from across the country, or world for that matter, you cut massive amounts of fossil fueled transport out. Fresher food are better, seeing as processed foods take more plastic and energy to produce.
This is a pretty awesome website if you feel the need to check it out. It relates to just this subject, and actually is a page for a book. I haven't read it yet but it looks like an excellent read for the future.
(Just one more page for some interesting stats... http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentid=6604 ).
So we all know kind of what global warming is. But how food affects it is definitely not a common topic for conversation. However, Anna Lappe kicks her book off with it, and it really is an overlooked subject. Like I threw in my last post, 1/3 of Greenhouse Gases come from the agricultural business. That's a substantial amount more than all the vehicles around the world. We as Americans tend to focus a lot on green solutions for cars, which is definitely important, but how about the water bottles we throw away, the food we waste, the plastic bags from the grocery we toss (these can be reused for so many things!). Not eating locally can be a huge problem as well. If you get a local apple as opposed to an apple from across the country, or world for that matter, you cut massive amounts of fossil fueled transport out. Fresher food are better, seeing as processed foods take more plastic and energy to produce.
This is a pretty awesome website if you feel the need to check it out. It relates to just this subject, and actually is a page for a book. I haven't read it yet but it looks like an excellent read for the future.
(Just one more page for some interesting stats... http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentid=6604 ).
Book Post 4: Key Terms
Studying the food system is a huge undertaking and by doing so we all have encountered numerous new vocab words to add to our lexicon. For us, we have had to dive into an whole other science as well: environmentalism. Throughout our posts you may have come across some words you haven't seen before. After reading Diet for a Hot Planet, I became familiar with some common food and environment related terms that I thought you'd find useful.
Greenhouse Effect -- Certain gasses present in Earth's atmosphere, greenhouse gases, absorb energy from the sun as infrared radiation (heat) and warm the Earth's surface and causes climate change. This is a naturally occuring phenomenon, but within the last 100 years the atmosphere has been absorbing these gases exponentially. These massive changes are keeping the environment from its natural ebb and flow and are permanently altering the atmosphere, and further, our climate.
Foodprint -- Coined Jennifer Wilkins at Cornell University, “foodprint” refers to the impact of our food choices on global warming based on our food’s emissions during growing, processing, packaging, and transporting our food.
Ruminents -- Ruminants are mammals distinct in how they digest their food, because they digest in two steps. First, ruminants semi-digest their food – the raw plant material – then they regurgitate it and the “cud,” as it’s called, is chewed again to break it down further. This quality of cattle is also why you may have noticed they all seem to be in a constant state of chewing. The climate change downside to rumination is that this process produces methane in the gut of ruminants, a greenhouse gas 296 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. As they digest, ruminants must release this gas through natural actions just like we do (if you know what I mean!) While this rumination is what allows cattle to digest fibrous grasses that we humans can’t convert into digestible form, it also adds to ruminants’ climate change toll.
Global Warming -- Greenhouse gases naturally incur in the environment. These gases, primarily carbon dioxide, are a critical part of our climate’s stability. But today, manmade greenhouse gases are skyrocketing in the atmosphere. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the IPCC notes, concentrations of both gases have increased at a rate that is “very likely to have been unprecedented in more than 10,000 years.” This increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas is leading to higher temperatures that are destabilizing the planet’s climate – what is commonly called global warming. But global warming might more aptly be dubbed “climate chaos” because its effect is not just “warming” but actually more erratic and extreme weather, including more acute droughts and flooding. The IPCC has found that the intensity of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, for instance, has increased over the past thirty years, related to increases in the temperatures of tropical seas. At the same time, droughts have become longer and more intense and have affected larger areas throughout the tropics and subtropics, therefore leading to a food crisis as well.
We can all do our part to decrease the speed of global warming, not by driving less or turning out our lights when we leave a room (although these practices are fantastic), but by analyzing what we eat on a daily basis and how we can make those small yet significant changes that I mentioned in my earlier post. Every little bit counts and we can all make a difference.
GO GREEN!
Greenhouse Effect -- Certain gasses present in Earth's atmosphere, greenhouse gases, absorb energy from the sun as infrared radiation (heat) and warm the Earth's surface and causes climate change. This is a naturally occuring phenomenon, but within the last 100 years the atmosphere has been absorbing these gases exponentially. These massive changes are keeping the environment from its natural ebb and flow and are permanently altering the atmosphere, and further, our climate.
Foodprint -- Coined Jennifer Wilkins at Cornell University, “foodprint” refers to the impact of our food choices on global warming based on our food’s emissions during growing, processing, packaging, and transporting our food.
Ruminents -- Ruminants are mammals distinct in how they digest their food, because they digest in two steps. First, ruminants semi-digest their food – the raw plant material – then they regurgitate it and the “cud,” as it’s called, is chewed again to break it down further. This quality of cattle is also why you may have noticed they all seem to be in a constant state of chewing. The climate change downside to rumination is that this process produces methane in the gut of ruminants, a greenhouse gas 296 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. As they digest, ruminants must release this gas through natural actions just like we do (if you know what I mean!) While this rumination is what allows cattle to digest fibrous grasses that we humans can’t convert into digestible form, it also adds to ruminants’ climate change toll.
Global Warming -- Greenhouse gases naturally incur in the environment. These gases, primarily carbon dioxide, are a critical part of our climate’s stability. But today, manmade greenhouse gases are skyrocketing in the atmosphere. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the IPCC notes, concentrations of both gases have increased at a rate that is “very likely to have been unprecedented in more than 10,000 years.” This increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas is leading to higher temperatures that are destabilizing the planet’s climate – what is commonly called global warming. But global warming might more aptly be dubbed “climate chaos” because its effect is not just “warming” but actually more erratic and extreme weather, including more acute droughts and flooding. The IPCC has found that the intensity of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, for instance, has increased over the past thirty years, related to increases in the temperatures of tropical seas. At the same time, droughts have become longer and more intense and have affected larger areas throughout the tropics and subtropics, therefore leading to a food crisis as well.
We can all do our part to decrease the speed of global warming, not by driving less or turning out our lights when we leave a room (although these practices are fantastic), but by analyzing what we eat on a daily basis and how we can make those small yet significant changes that I mentioned in my earlier post. Every little bit counts and we can all make a difference.
GO GREEN!
ABC Food and the Enviroment
This article is a little dated, but read it through and it has some interesting information to offer. In 2007 everyone was freaking out a little more about global warming, and this little blurb definitely reflects that. Actually it uses one of the same stats used in our book (1/3 of Greenhouse Gases come from agriculture), which I thought was sort of entertaining. But it just focuses on the hidden environmental costs of food, through both transportation and production. Read it here
Sunday, March 20, 2011
What You Can Do: Book Post 3
I know throughout this entire food ethic analysis you have all been bombarded with facts and websites and videos about how the world is going to pieces and itS on the brink of exploding and how everything is all our fault and on and on and on....so I figured I better equip you guys with some helpful and almost inspiring hints to keep us all on track.
1) Choose real food -- Synthetic, overpackaged, and energy sucking foods line our grocery stores and cram our pantries. Choosing whole, fresh foods with minimal packaging is energy efficient eating.
2) Finish your dinner -- In the United States almost half of the food on our plates as a country ends up in the landfill and not nourishing our bellies which leads to huge greenhouse gas emissions. To cut back, start by producing less food at home, save food for leftovers, waste less on paper products and untouched foods, and compost (a great fertilizer for those of us interested in producing our own veggies this summer!!!)
3) Local or Loser -- Support your local economy, reduce exessive fuel consumption from food shipped to stores from across the country, and taste all your backyard has to offer by shopping at stores that sell local products or farmer's markets. Because of Georgia's mild climate, it is a great enviroment for all sorts of yummy foods so why not venture out and try a few (or grow some in your planter boxes at home. I do it and its really fun!)
4) Get into the Kitchen -- Ever wanted to take a cooking class? Why spend tons of money on class and transportation when you can learn in the comfort of your own home? There are countless cookbooks for beginners, organic lovers, meals on a budget, whatever. If you are used to eating out a certain number of times each week, try to replace at least one restaurant dinner a week with one cooked at home and show off your culinary skills!
5) Fight for Forests -- The Brazilian and Indonesian forests are taking huge hits due to deforestation and huge carbon emissions are being produced just because of the disappearing of trees. These forests are being cleared not for more living space or lumber but to make way for livestock grazing, feed crops and production of biofuels. Take a stand and join efforts like the Rainforest Action Network’s Agribusiness Campaign.
These were just a few ways to help make a difference. I really encourage everyone to read at least a few chapters of Diet for a Hot Planet, if not the whole thing. It is really an inspiring book and chock full of information.
GO GREEN!
1) Choose real food -- Synthetic, overpackaged, and energy sucking foods line our grocery stores and cram our pantries. Choosing whole, fresh foods with minimal packaging is energy efficient eating.
2) Finish your dinner -- In the United States almost half of the food on our plates as a country ends up in the landfill and not nourishing our bellies which leads to huge greenhouse gas emissions. To cut back, start by producing less food at home, save food for leftovers, waste less on paper products and untouched foods, and compost (a great fertilizer for those of us interested in producing our own veggies this summer!!!)
3) Local or Loser -- Support your local economy, reduce exessive fuel consumption from food shipped to stores from across the country, and taste all your backyard has to offer by shopping at stores that sell local products or farmer's markets. Because of Georgia's mild climate, it is a great enviroment for all sorts of yummy foods so why not venture out and try a few (or grow some in your planter boxes at home. I do it and its really fun!)
4) Get into the Kitchen -- Ever wanted to take a cooking class? Why spend tons of money on class and transportation when you can learn in the comfort of your own home? There are countless cookbooks for beginners, organic lovers, meals on a budget, whatever. If you are used to eating out a certain number of times each week, try to replace at least one restaurant dinner a week with one cooked at home and show off your culinary skills!
5) Fight for Forests -- The Brazilian and Indonesian forests are taking huge hits due to deforestation and huge carbon emissions are being produced just because of the disappearing of trees. These forests are being cleared not for more living space or lumber but to make way for livestock grazing, feed crops and production of biofuels. Take a stand and join efforts like the Rainforest Action Network’s Agribusiness Campaign.
These were just a few ways to help make a difference. I really encourage everyone to read at least a few chapters of Diet for a Hot Planet, if not the whole thing. It is really an inspiring book and chock full of information.
GO GREEN!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Its All Connected: Book Post 2
Its me again!
I read some more of Diet for a Hot Planet last night and I fully realized that everything affecting our livelihood from birth to death and everything in between is interconnected beyond any doubt. We live in a global economy and because money is a common language throughout the world, there is no denying that money controls our lives. Wondering how the food system fits into this?? Just by improving the way we produce, distribute, and sell our food we will be well on our way to solving about every major problem we are dealing with today -- water, air, and soil quality, hunger rates, the economy, social relations, our health, better climate control, more job opportunity, crop sustainability and diversity, fewer chemicals, etc, etc. Rather than trying to fix each individual problem with a different and complex solution, all we have to focus on is that one necessity of life...food. If you remember from my post before, we as a dependant are not taking cues from the resource providing us with our lifeline. We are slapping the hand that feeds us in a very significant way. Once we address the issues of our food system and focus our energy on improving this, everything will naturally return to the ebb and flow of the earth's cycle; we just have to let it.
Katherine Green mentioned this in class yesterday, but did you know that the manure from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) is so high in chemicals due to the animals' diets that it cannot be reused as an easy and cost-effective fertilizer so the farms pollute the soil with more chemicals from synthetic fertilizer? Do you know what they do with all this useless waste instead? The farms liquefy the excrement and spray it over surrounding fields. This muck seeps into our ground water or becomes runoff into a larger source of water and pollutes the contents. If they aren't able to shower the poop, they place it in huge containers (multiple football fields wide) and because the carbon dioxide and methane that naturally occurs in manure is not soluble in water, the compounds dissipate into the air as gas, polluting the air. Don't blame the oil consumption for the disappearing ozone layer, blame the steak on your plate.
I urge you to buy your produce and meats especially from local farmers. By doing this, you eliminate exorbitant fuel consumption due to the decreased travel, allow the animals' manure to be reused as fertilizer, and you sustain your local economy among countless other benefits.
Oh, and don't forget to GO GREEN!
I read some more of Diet for a Hot Planet last night and I fully realized that everything affecting our livelihood from birth to death and everything in between is interconnected beyond any doubt. We live in a global economy and because money is a common language throughout the world, there is no denying that money controls our lives. Wondering how the food system fits into this?? Just by improving the way we produce, distribute, and sell our food we will be well on our way to solving about every major problem we are dealing with today -- water, air, and soil quality, hunger rates, the economy, social relations, our health, better climate control, more job opportunity, crop sustainability and diversity, fewer chemicals, etc, etc. Rather than trying to fix each individual problem with a different and complex solution, all we have to focus on is that one necessity of life...food. If you remember from my post before, we as a dependant are not taking cues from the resource providing us with our lifeline. We are slapping the hand that feeds us in a very significant way. Once we address the issues of our food system and focus our energy on improving this, everything will naturally return to the ebb and flow of the earth's cycle; we just have to let it.
Katherine Green mentioned this in class yesterday, but did you know that the manure from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) is so high in chemicals due to the animals' diets that it cannot be reused as an easy and cost-effective fertilizer so the farms pollute the soil with more chemicals from synthetic fertilizer? Do you know what they do with all this useless waste instead? The farms liquefy the excrement and spray it over surrounding fields. This muck seeps into our ground water or becomes runoff into a larger source of water and pollutes the contents. If they aren't able to shower the poop, they place it in huge containers (multiple football fields wide) and because the carbon dioxide and methane that naturally occurs in manure is not soluble in water, the compounds dissipate into the air as gas, polluting the air. Don't blame the oil consumption for the disappearing ozone layer, blame the steak on your plate.
I urge you to buy your produce and meats especially from local farmers. By doing this, you eliminate exorbitant fuel consumption due to the decreased travel, allow the animals' manure to be reused as fertilizer, and you sustain your local economy among countless other benefits.
Oh, and don't forget to GO GREEN!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
STAND Up for the Enviroment / First Book Post
Are any of you in St. Pius' STAND chapter? If you don't know what it is, its a grassroots, student-led organization that focuses on education about the genocides and crimes against humanity happening right now and advocates for change. We as a chapter are having a hard time broadening our horizons and reaching more people in the school and community to teach others and inspire them to make a difference.
Right now I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with our study of food ethics and how it correlates with the environment. I bet you're thinking that our little project will not change anything. You're probably saying something something like, "Well this is awesome, but who will listen?" I will admit, I struggle with this almost everyday. Who cares about a bunch of junior English students posting on blogs? Sometimes I feel like I'm standing at the base of a mountain with no way across. Its hard to imagine actually causing any change. But what I realized was that we must unite as a whole to create this change. While I was researching our book's website, takeabite.cc, I came across many expert resources that the author, Anna Lappe, praises. One of them is Food and Water Watch (foodandwaterwatch.org ). I began to research its organization and I just couldn't stop! What made me think about the connection to Stand is that Food and Water Watch is a non-profit organization that helps educate and advocate for safe food and water for the world in ways that keep the environment healthy. It gives everyday people the tools to advocate for change. They even offer internships! This website was such an inspiration for me that I'm already thinking about applying! I hope you use this resource and any others on the takeabite website to make healthy choices for you and the world you call home.
On a separate, yet related, note, I began to read Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappe, and boy do I want to go out to my backyard and plant a fully sustainable garden to supply the neighborhood! It is such a great and useful book! Did you know that we are completely ignoring all of the signs and helpful hints our planet is giving us. We need to use our rapidly expanding technology to tap into nature's natural treasures and not completely root out all normalcy in the world. Supporters of industrial food say that decreasing the amounts of processed food will increase hangar rates in the world, but experts say that if we continue at this rate, the climate will change so much that soon 40% of the grain crops will disappear -- increasing the hunger rate even more.
These are only a few examples of what the food industry is doing to our environment, not to mention our bodies and culture. Are they even making real food anymore? Do they not see that they are replacing sugar, flour, and salt with multi-syllabic chemicals? No, all they see is money. We must take it upon ourselves to change the world...or no one else will. Be the change you want to see in the world. Act now and live without regret.
GO GREEN!
Right now I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with our study of food ethics and how it correlates with the environment. I bet you're thinking that our little project will not change anything. You're probably saying something something like, "Well this is awesome, but who will listen?" I will admit, I struggle with this almost everyday. Who cares about a bunch of junior English students posting on blogs? Sometimes I feel like I'm standing at the base of a mountain with no way across. Its hard to imagine actually causing any change. But what I realized was that we must unite as a whole to create this change. While I was researching our book's website, takeabite.cc, I came across many expert resources that the author, Anna Lappe, praises. One of them is Food and Water Watch (foodandwaterwatch.org ). I began to research its organization and I just couldn't stop! What made me think about the connection to Stand is that Food and Water Watch is a non-profit organization that helps educate and advocate for safe food and water for the world in ways that keep the environment healthy. It gives everyday people the tools to advocate for change. They even offer internships! This website was such an inspiration for me that I'm already thinking about applying! I hope you use this resource and any others on the takeabite website to make healthy choices for you and the world you call home.
On a separate, yet related, note, I began to read Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappe, and boy do I want to go out to my backyard and plant a fully sustainable garden to supply the neighborhood! It is such a great and useful book! Did you know that we are completely ignoring all of the signs and helpful hints our planet is giving us. We need to use our rapidly expanding technology to tap into nature's natural treasures and not completely root out all normalcy in the world. Supporters of industrial food say that decreasing the amounts of processed food will increase hangar rates in the world, but experts say that if we continue at this rate, the climate will change so much that soon 40% of the grain crops will disappear -- increasing the hunger rate even more.
These are only a few examples of what the food industry is doing to our environment, not to mention our bodies and culture. Are they even making real food anymore? Do they not see that they are replacing sugar, flour, and salt with multi-syllabic chemicals? No, all they see is money. We must take it upon ourselves to change the world...or no one else will. Be the change you want to see in the world. Act now and live without regret.
GO GREEN!
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