Moderator: Welcome to the 2016 agriculture debate. Tonight we will hear from two sides of the argument. I’d like to introduce you to Hank Garrett and Andy Grainfield . Hank Garrett is going to debate that agriculture was the worst mistake we made, and Andy is going to debate why it was a good thing for humans. We will start with Hank.
(HG) There are many positive aspects of the hunter and gatherer way of life. Hunter and Gatherers had an easier life than we do now. They didn’t have as much stress, they were healthier, they were able to move around freely and there was less sexual inequality.
Jared Diamond, who wrote the article “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race” stated that hunter-gatherers worked much less than farmers. …show more content…
They obtained most of their food from one starchy crop however since Agriculture; farmers seem to produce starchy crops such as wheat, corn, and rice. Look at the example that Diamond talks about. A study conducted at Dickson Mounds compared the Hunter/Gatherers to maize farmers in 1150AD. The findings of the study concluded that farmers had 50% increase in malnutrition, higher degeneration in spine which he thinks is due to physical demands of farming, three times the rise in infectious diseases , four times the increase of iron deficiency, and due to nutrition and diseases, life expectancy at birth dropped from 26 to 19. The image shown on the screen, some people may think is funny, but to me it’s the …show more content…
We would not have technology we have now. We have settled our families down in one place and are able to own land. Agriculture allowed farmers to farm, and those who did not farm were still able to eat because the farmers supported them, and still do. Agriculture also leads to industrialism. This is a game changer for humans. Humans were able to use energy from other sources to help them do work. According to the book Humanity, Industrialism exploits the energy contained in fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. By vastly increasing the amount of energy available to humanity, industrialism transformed most aspects of human life, from the number of people working in extractive industries to family sizes. Industrialism was able to make work and life more
(HG) There are many positive aspects of the hunter and gatherer way of life. Hunter and Gatherers had an easier life than we do now. They didn’t have as much stress, they were healthier, they were able to move around freely and there was less sexual inequality.
Jared Diamond, who wrote the article “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race” stated that hunter-gatherers worked much less than farmers. …show more content…
They obtained most of their food from one starchy crop however since Agriculture; farmers seem to produce starchy crops such as wheat, corn, and rice. Look at the example that Diamond talks about. A study conducted at Dickson Mounds compared the Hunter/Gatherers to maize farmers in 1150AD. The findings of the study concluded that farmers had 50% increase in malnutrition, higher degeneration in spine which he thinks is due to physical demands of farming, three times the rise in infectious diseases , four times the increase of iron deficiency, and due to nutrition and diseases, life expectancy at birth dropped from 26 to 19. The image shown on the screen, some people may think is funny, but to me it’s the …show more content…
We would not have technology we have now. We have settled our families down in one place and are able to own land. Agriculture allowed farmers to farm, and those who did not farm were still able to eat because the farmers supported them, and still do. Agriculture also leads to industrialism. This is a game changer for humans. Humans were able to use energy from other sources to help them do work. According to the book Humanity, Industrialism exploits the energy contained in fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. By vastly increasing the amount of energy available to humanity, industrialism transformed most aspects of human life, from the number of people working in extractive industries to family sizes. Industrialism was able to make work and life more