Challenges in Providing Food for the Growing Population
Today, humans face many problems in the world: ocean acidification, extreme weather events, decrease in biodiversity, increase in greenhouse gases and more. All of these issues are connected and stem from one source: humans. Humans are the causes of many of these problems; however, humans have vast intelligence and have made incredible technological and industrial advances over time. Humans are the only ones who can solve the problems that have been created. One escalating problem is to provide sufficient, nutritious foods to the world’s growing population. The human population will reach 9-10 billion by year 2100 and if changes are not made to our current agricultural system, humans may …show more content…
For example, many CAFOs treat their animals poorly in order to make more money. Reducing the animal’s movement allows less expenditure of the cow’s energy and allows the cow to grow larger and become slaughtered in less time (Gurian-Sherman). The health of the cows in CAFOs is very poor, copious amounts of antibiotics are given, and yet this meat is consumed world-wide. This concern for increasing revenue over the health of humans shows that people’s priorities are out of order. Money has such a large impact in the diet of humans. How will people’s priorities change? Firstly, people must be educated on what a healthy diet is and choose to eat more of the healthy items. One person cannot make the change; people must work together to change which foods are produced. People must learn to increase the intake of grains and vegetables and decrease the consumption of animals. That would have such an incredible effect on the amount of food that can be grown. More land would be available for crops directly consumed by humans, helping provide more food for the growing …show more content…
People want money and will make unsustainable agricultural decisions just to make more money. In order for humans to sustain the growing population, humans must work with the earth to produce food, not deplete its precious resources, and not harm the environment. The future is not usually a factor in agriculture. Currently, the environment is taking the brunt of our actions; if humans do not work together now to change our actions, we will find ourselves competing for food and resources and dealing with more major environmental changes. Together, we must work to make a change for the future. We must be activists, we must be educated, and we must know when it is right to make a profit and when to accept a
Today, humans face many problems in the world: ocean acidification, extreme weather events, decrease in biodiversity, increase in greenhouse gases and more. All of these issues are connected and stem from one source: humans. Humans are the causes of many of these problems; however, humans have vast intelligence and have made incredible technological and industrial advances over time. Humans are the only ones who can solve the problems that have been created. One escalating problem is to provide sufficient, nutritious foods to the world’s growing population. The human population will reach 9-10 billion by year 2100 and if changes are not made to our current agricultural system, humans may …show more content…
For example, many CAFOs treat their animals poorly in order to make more money. Reducing the animal’s movement allows less expenditure of the cow’s energy and allows the cow to grow larger and become slaughtered in less time (Gurian-Sherman). The health of the cows in CAFOs is very poor, copious amounts of antibiotics are given, and yet this meat is consumed world-wide. This concern for increasing revenue over the health of humans shows that people’s priorities are out of order. Money has such a large impact in the diet of humans. How will people’s priorities change? Firstly, people must be educated on what a healthy diet is and choose to eat more of the healthy items. One person cannot make the change; people must work together to change which foods are produced. People must learn to increase the intake of grains and vegetables and decrease the consumption of animals. That would have such an incredible effect on the amount of food that can be grown. More land would be available for crops directly consumed by humans, helping provide more food for the growing …show more content…
People want money and will make unsustainable agricultural decisions just to make more money. In order for humans to sustain the growing population, humans must work with the earth to produce food, not deplete its precious resources, and not harm the environment. The future is not usually a factor in agriculture. Currently, the environment is taking the brunt of our actions; if humans do not work together now to change our actions, we will find ourselves competing for food and resources and dealing with more major environmental changes. Together, we must work to make a change for the future. We must be activists, we must be educated, and we must know when it is right to make a profit and when to accept a