Analyzing Environmental Burden of the Diet - Essay Example

Analyzing the Environmental Burden of Your Diet For most of this century, leading scientists, public officials and various organizations have shown concerns that the rapidly growing population is the major reason for putting stress on the environmental degradation and resources. One cannot deny the fact that the large populations in many countries of the world do have an impact on the resources because the demand is greater. But this is only one of the many causes and some of those other issues based on over-consumption, unsustainable development may have an even larger impact, be it agriculture, energy etc. The way we choose how to use the resources are critical issues as to the impact they have on our environment to meet those uses and purposes. The main objectives of the issue to be analyzed are what impact our food consumption has on the agricultural production. What changes can we bring in our daily diet so that the growing burden on our environment can be minimized. The diet consumed by different age groups as well as the gender differs greatly. The people who are involved in physical form of labor surely need a different and a healthier diet as compared to the ones who are not physically that active. We seriously need to examine the degradation of the environment, the consumption of nonrenewable resources, population growth and the possible decline in prosperity. Reduction of population density would ensure individual prosperity and quality environment for future generations. Today's consumption pattern of the world is undermining the base of the environmental resources and putting a great burden on it. The existing consumption pattern especially seen in certain countries can put great stain on the environment and its natural resources, which can have serious impact on the world society. But what needs to be analyzed is how much of the environmental degradation that we see today has resulted from overpopulation and how much of it is due to the exploitation and due to geopolitical interests and consumerism. Consumption is not the real issue; the problem is its pattern and effect. Globally, 20% of the people of the world in the highest income countries account for 86% of the total private consumption expenditures- the poorest 20% and the minuscule 1.3%. The following consumption pattern of the rich countries shows how stark the inequality of the above mentioned percentage is: Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5% Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4% Have 74% of all the telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5% Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1% Own 87% of the world's vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1% Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never seen before. The excessive use of petroleum and fossil fuels, plus erosion and other misuses of our natural resources are reducing the carrying capacity of our ecosystem. The concept of sustainable development is universally accepted as a means of protecting the environment for the whole of mankind and demands, that the future manufacturing technologies must be cleaner, yet economically strong and ecologically beneficial. To analyze how much intake of different food items is consumed by an individual, the following chart will be helpful. But again the diet taken by people of different age groups and gender will differ greatly. Given below is a chart describing the different food items consumed by "me" during the past week: Top of Form Bottom of Form This can be taken just as a rough guideline of the diet of an average person and can be used to analyze how much food is consumed by the huge population around the world. If we further go into details and see how much food "I" used in one week, we would need to see how much land per hectare was used to produce the fruits, vegetables and grains consumed; how much water for irrigation was needed; the fertilizer used and insecticide sprayed to grow my food. Still this cannot be considered a very precise chart because the amount and the number of servings can differ at times. In addition to that, making such precise estimations for one person would need to be studied under controlled conditions. Our concentration here is to see how to minimize the burden we are putting on our resources and how to find practical and efficient methods to lessen this burden. The main objective of this study is to see how most of these environmental problems arise in complex, scientific, technical, economic and public policy contexts. Environmental policies deal with advances in scientific research, social, behavioral and economic disciplines that are relevant to complex environmental policy issues in fields such as: products, processes and manufacturing network; wastewater collection and treatment; air pollution control technologies; hazardous toxic waste management; fate and transport of contaminants in the environment; environmental regulations and compliance; pollution prevention; solid waste management; conservation and environmental protection. In order to have effective environmental strategies there is a need to share common technical information and provide opportunities for multi-disciplinary discourse on science, technology and environmental policy that would assist the development, demonstration and commercialization of cleaner products and processes. By using energy conversion and management methods to meet the global challenge of a cleaner environment, the agricultural economy can be improved. In order to have less burden on the environment the Integrated Food and Waste Management System (IF&WMS) has been developed by the Zero Emission Research Initiative (ZERI) as a bio-intensive agricultural system. This system functions as an "organic engine" that combines industrial technologies with ecological principles and understandings. It takes in organic waste materials ( that would otherwise be regarded as trash) and recycle these materials into value added products. It has eliminated many inputs typically associated with agricultural production. The IF&WMS utilizes anaerobic digesters to turn waste into value added products mushrooms, algae, feeds, composts, fish, crops fruit trees etc. Anaerobic digesters are ideal for rural villages in the developing world. This system can process organic byproducts of primary industries such as farms, forestry operations and value added byproducts from factories, that produce food products as well as working with municipalities to develop sewage sludge, municipal solid waste and compost reclamation programs. For small scale and pilot demonstration projects location is not an issue. From medium to large scale production, Integrated Food and Waste Management System would have to within proximity of major highways for transport, major power lines with excess load capacity and close to the facilities that produce the excess waste biomass that is otherwise land filled or burned. Unlike most biomass systems they would not burn the feedstock but rather run the biomass through a digester extracting methane gas with a series of useful byproducts that will add to the efficiency of the integrated biomass system. The methane produced by the digester will be held in a tank for use as fuel for onsite vehicles and a fuel cell system. The fuel cell will produce several byproducts that will be particularly useful for this type of eco-village themed project. In the IF&WMS there are many combinations as everything is interacting with everything else just as we would naturally expect in nature. However, human management of these systems to maximize their points of synergistic interaction enables the design of sustainable systems that actually offer superior performance to existing unsustainable ones. For example fish can be eaten, algae can be used as feed, worms from the vermin-culture gin can be fed to the fish and fast growing plants like Napier grass can be added to the pond ecosystem. Excess water in the ponds percolates in the surroundings berms providing both irrigation and fertilizer for the crops growing on the berms. Aeroponic greenhouses can be added in the more advanced stages as well as combined heating and power systems that burn, clean and allow the exhaust to be used to create greenhouse enriched environment that dramatically increases plant growth. This would greatly be helpful for: Farm fish in the ponds without having to buy artificial feeds for them. Treat human, plant and animal wastes in the same systems to keep the place clean, without any extra expense for the family or the government. Reduce the need for a garbage collection service, by developing more self-reliant local community structure. There will be little packaging (paper, plastic, can or bottle) from the shops and everything will be designed to be recycled. Develop alternative energy solutions that include biogas energy providing for cooking, lighting, boiling and refrigerating, farming (drying, pumping, engine) and even agro-industrial processing purposes. Such projects have a broader vision and are working toward creating and building of integrated environments that are highly efficient in the use of human and natural resources that promote the manifestation of socially just, and sustainable societies throughout the world. A compelling environmental responsibility in the field of agriculture is not to import, cultivate or promote known or potential weeds. After land cleaning and possible climate change, invasive species present the greatest threat to biodiversity world-wide. Exotic invasions reduce ecosystem function and agricultural production as well as having negative impacts on human health and social values. Environmental and agricultural weeds of different kinds are now regarded as a primary threat to our natural and agricultural systems. Apple (1977) stated that although technological developments have occurred in the area of disease management, plant diseases in many developed countries have continued to increase which is the result of poor application of technology or enhanced vulnerability of agro-ecosystems or both. Zadoks and Schein (1979) suggested that disease is always present but the host's genetic makeup, the population's genetic diversity and the dispersion of genotypes combine to prevent extreme disease growth rate. Diversity is an integral component of a natural ecosystem that can be utilized to provide greater stability in modern agro-ecosystems with regard to disease management. Diversity in terms of disease management is often seen from the point of view of crop diversification, i.e. crop rotation or diversification in time. Karlen et al. (1994) indicated that after the Second World War, the inclusion of legumes in crop rotation was de-emphasized. The use of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides were viewed as tools that producers could use to lessen the need for management via extended rotation. Karlen et al, (1994) and Finckh and Wolfe (1997) commented on the substantial increase in the use of a new crop species or "crop monoculture" which has also been refereed to as a fixed-cropping system or rotation, Black et al. (1974); Tanaka et al.(2002). Another important topic related to diversity of disease management is the risk of fungicide resistance. A lack of diversity in the chemicals used and their modes of action, combined with heavy reliance on fungicides disease management can increase the risk of development of fungicide resistance, Hamlen et al. (1997). Awareness has been increasing, regarding the potential for fungicide resistance in field crops with the recent report of benomyl resistance in Canada, Gossen et al. (2001) and concerns related to the need of repeated application of foliar fungicide in pulse crops for effective management of ascochyta leaf blights, Chongo et al.(2002); Anon (2002). Thus advantages in Integrated Crop Management, including advances in crop protection products and biotechnology, have allowed farmers to benefit from greater productivity and output with less cost, effort and economic risk, and a reduced burden to the environment. And we as individuals can promote the use of organic food which protects the environment from the harmful insecticides, synthetic fertilizers and provides us with a healthy diet. Bibliography Anonymous. (2000). Guidelines for preventing and managing fungicide resistance in cereals. Spring 2002. R. Bayles, C. Funk, C. Edwards, and G. Dodgson (ed). FRAG-UK Steering Committee, The Fungicide Resistance Action Group - UK, Home-Grown Cereals Authority, London, UK. Apple, J. L. ( 1977) The Theory of Disease Management. In J.G. Horsfall and E. B. Cowling (ed). Plant Disease in Advance Treatise: How disease is managed. Vol. 1. Academic Press Inc. New York, USA Black, A. L. F. H. Siddoway, and P. L. Brown. ( 1974). Summer fallow in the northern Great Plains ( winter wheat ). In Summer fallow in the western United States, USDA-ARS Consery. Res. Rep. no. 17 USDA, Washington, DC. Chongo, G. S., S. Banniza, T. Warkentin, Y. Gan and T. Wolf. (2002). Performance of various chickpea cultivars under different levels of ascochyta blight. In Proceedings of the 4th Canadian Pulse Research Workshop, Edmonton, AB, December 8-10, 2002 Finckh, M. R. and M. S. Wolfe. (1997) The use of biodiversity to restrict plant diseases and some consequences for farmers and society. In L.E. Jackson. (ed ). Ecology in agriculture. Academic Pres, San Diego, USA. The Food Guide Pyramid. Go to the web site here: http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/nutrition/pyramid.html Global Stress. Go to the web site here: http://www.globalissues.org/EnvIssues/Population/Stress.asp. Gossen, B. D., S. R. Rimmer, and J. D. Holley. (2001). First report of resistance to benomyl fungicide in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Plant Dis. 85: 1206 Hamlen, R. A., B. Labit, J.A. Bruhn, M. J. Holliday, C. M. Smith, and C. A. Shillingford. (1997). Use of chemical measures. In N. A. Rechcigl and J. E. Rechcigl (ed) Environmentally safe approaches to crop disease control. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton Karlen, D. L., G. E. Varvel, D. G. Bullock, and R. M. Cruse.(1994). Crop rotation for the 21st century. Advances in Agronomy. National Analysis Tools and System (NATS) Go to the web site here: http://nat.crgq.com Randall, R. P. (200). A global compendium of weeds. R. G. & F. J. Richardson, Meredith, Victoria. Rural Development and Related Agencies United States. Congress. Senate. Committee of Appropriations. Subcommittee on Agriculture. (1998). Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1998. For sale by the U.S. G.P.O. Supt. Congressional Sales Office Tanaka, D. L., J. M. Krupinsky, M. A. Liebig, S. D. Merrill, R. E. Ries, J. R. Hendrickson, H. A. Johnson, and J. D. Hanson. (2002). Argon, J, 94. Zadoks, J. C. and R. D. Schein. ( 1979). Epidemiology and Plant Disease Management. Oxford University Press, New York. . . Chongo et al.(2002); Gossen et al. (2001) Read More