Category Archives: Organic Agriculture

A Living System at Each Level

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Each component of the global food system depends on a healthy planet. What is a healthy planet? It is not just the absence of air pollution, global warming, landfills, deforestation, oil spills, etc. A healthy planet, and therefore a healthy global food ecology (socially, politically, environmentally) also boils down to healthy dirt, nutrient-rich soil and water, microbial symbiosis… all sorts… Read more »

The Impact Of Industrial Livestock Raising and Alternatives

 (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 »

Research Bias Against Organic Food?

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In brainstorming the benefits of organic food, I immediately thought of health benefits, such lower pesticide exposure and increased nutrition. In fact, in Michael Pollan’s book which we read for this class, he states that “For most of our food animals, a diet of grass means much healthier fats (more omega-3s and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA; fewer omega-6s and… Read more »

The Global Seed Vault – A Future Frozen in Time

With the effects of climate change becoming a reality, food security has become a growing global concern. And though each country will look for ways to combat the threat to their national security, one movement stands out from the rest. Buried deep in the permafrost mountains on the remote Norwegian island of Svalbard that rests halfway between Norway and the… Read more »

Holy Hemp!

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The political ecology of today’s world food system is continuously being shaped by countless influential factors. The world food system is in an utter state of imbalance in terms of waste and environmental degradation. The foundation from which these issues arise can be traced back to governmental and social dimensions and or decisions that took place in the recent past…. Read more »

No Easy Way Out

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I’ve gained many valuable insights in the process of researching the problem of food loss/waste and its possible solutions. First, I think the distinction between loss and waste needs to be understood to foster effective solutions. Waste is predominately what happens in wealthy countries while loss results from poor knowledge, practices and infrastructure. I learned the astonishing fact that some… Read more »

Bees – Are they really a big deal?

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  Honey bees are an essential part of agriculture and plant life in North America, being a major pollinator of everyday foods such as cranberries, blueberries, tomatoes, apples, and numerous other crops (Schuster). Without bees, we would be left without a key pollinator and without pollination, there would be no more plants, no more animals, and no more man (Latsch)…. Read more »

Blog 6 – Drought

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In a world that is ever increasingly subjected to the consequences of climate change, weather patterns have not just become a bigger part of public and private discourse, it is having real effects on our lives. One of the many manifestations of climate change is severe drought. This is evident across the globe from Southern California to the Middle East…. Read more »

Diversified gardens over monocropping

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Western institutes employ thousands of people, allocating financial and agricultural resources in attempts to contain the problem of hunger in developing nations, but these efforts aren’t enough. An obvious solution to hunger is… send hungry people food! But the cost of transportation, in dollars as well as environmental pollutants, creates more problems than it solves (Robbins). Instead of providing consistent aid… Read more »