(large scale industrial livestock farm) The environmental impact of industrial livestock raising is huge. It is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gases behind energy production. Without changes in how we produce meat, the amount of greenhouse gas emitted through industrial livestock raising will only increase. The population is rising and becoming more affluent. More affluent populations tend to eat… Read more »
The Earth’s climate systems are complex almost beyond comprehension. The old saying that a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the Earth creates a tornado on the other is true in many ways. Unfortunately many climate change deniers will use this complexity as a way to support their indefensible beliefs. We see many politicians in America using cop-out… Read more »
One thing has become clear throughout our studies in this course, the status quo is not sustainable. If we as a global society continue on the path we are on, it will only lead to greater hardship in the future. Populations are rising and consumption is increasing throughout the world. At the same time necessary resources are being depleted and… Read more »
Although we learn about the issues of food, energy, and the climate in different lessons, it’s clear they are all connected. The purpose of our study is to understand the political ecology of the global food systems and try to answer the seemingly simple question, how can we feed everyone? This is a problem that humans have struggled with since… Read more »
While looking through the Hungry Planet gallery for my two chosen countries, Chad and France, the differences were striking. It’s hard to overstate how different the two countries seem just from a gallery of a few pictures. The families in Chad had a sad, dreary, pain-ridden tone that was evident for a number of different reasons. The facilities were minimal… Read more »
While reading about the cause of the Irish and Indian famines this week which killed millions of people, I continually asked myself, “How could they so brazenly end these people’s lives?” How could a few powerful people so apathetically decide the fate for millions of innocent people. As I wondered about this question something struck me and I wondered, is… Read more »
The current model for industrial meat production is not sustainable and severely damaging to the environment. At the current time about 30% of the world’s ice-free surface is used to grow crops that support industrial livestock (Time). Most of this feed is grown using mono-cropping techniques on large industrialized farms. This form of farming strips the Earth of its nutrients… Read more »
We live in an era dominated by the marketing of big corporations. In no industry does this have a larger effect on our bodies’ health than in the American food industry. There are many factors which contribute to public health but one of, if not the greatest factor, is the food we eat. As our food system becomes more and more… Read more »