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Climate change effects on agriculture essay
Effect of agriculture
Climate Change and its Impact on Agriculture
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In this Century, United States face tons of problems especially Climate Changes due of illegal process in Agriculture. Industrial Agriculture is a main farmland in Unites States. Most of the crops produced in large scale and livestock operation. In Agriculture, there are producers and consumers make the food system to work and grow. Producers are person, company and country that makes or supply products for sale. What I have learned about them is producers just want to earn big amount of money. They do not care about human’s health, they just keep making products that can danger people. For example, the factory farming without proper sanitation. On the other hand, Consumers, like us, are the people who goes shopping for food every day. Sometimes we just get the products and didn’t read the labels or nutrition facts of the food. Consumers didn’t know what is behind the process of food. In this essay, I will focus on the main problem in Agriculture that we are facing right now. …show more content…
The effects of climate changes in Agriculture is a change of temperature, rainfalls and climate extreme, for example, heat waves and drought. In the article, Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, stated that Since 1990, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have increased by about 4 percent. From year to year, emissions can rise and fall due to changes in the economy, the price of fuel, and other factors. In 2015, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions decreased compared to 2014 levels. Industry (21 percent of 2015 greenhouse gas emissions) Greenhouse gas emissions from industry primarily come from burning fossil fuels for energy, as well as greenhouse gas emissions from certain chemical reactions necessary to produce goods from raw
Moreover, this system of mass farming leads to single crop farms, which are ecologically unsafe, and the unnatural treatment of animals (Kingsolver 14). These facts are presented to force the reader to consider their own actions when purchasing their own food because of the huge economic impact that their purchases can have. Kingsolver demonstrates this impact by stating that “every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we
Our current system of corporate-dominated, industrial-style farming might not resemble the old-fashioned farms of yore, but the modern method of raising food has been a surprisingly long time in the making. That's one of the astonishing revelations found in Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press), which explores in great detail the often unappealing, yet largely unseen, underbelly of today's food production and processing machine. While some of the material will be familiar to those who've read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation," Cook's work provides many new insights for anyone who's concerned about how and what we eat,
Most of Goodall's books focus on her progressing studies, however, in Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, she discusses another issue focusing on human consumption. Goodall begins her book by touching on the roots of early agriculture, including national dishes from many different cultures and traditions. Then, she dives into modern agribusiness, a new lifestyle where commonsense farming has become more and more rare, especially in the United States. She discusses how mass consumption has developed from the idea of a monoculture, where farmers plant acres of the same crop. This creates a problem because if that one crop fails to grow, then the farmer has no other crop to rely on for profit, causing the farmer to use chemical pesticides. Insects developing resistance towards these pesticides led to the idea of genetically modifying crops so that they develop their own "natural" pesticide. Nonetheless, all of these techniques are poisoning our foods and our environment. The issue is rapidly destroying all farms mainly because GMO's spread easily through pollination and are difficult to kill.
Agriculture has been around for hundreds of years. With its negative effects on humanity, agriculture has greatly affected the environment. Many archeologists believe that adoption of Agriculture was not an improvement but a disaster for humans in many ways. Jared Diamond, the author of the article called “The worst mistake in the history of the human race” argues that hunter-gatherers were better off than the farmers. In a way agriculture is believed to cause many problems for humans such as sexual inequality, deep class division, changed their diet which later led to poor health and diseases.
The world in which the human race lives in relies heavily on factory farming to provide food to over seven billion people. This method of food production is deemed normal and efficient in today’s society, yet has minute advantages. If we took the time to learn the conditions and technicalities of how factory farming actually operates, we would discover that the overall effects to the environment and human health are detrimental. Realistically, people are not going to stop consuming animal products, so instead, people should be conscious of how their food is being produced so that they may be informed in order to make changes in their dietary habits to better their own well being, as well as that of the environment’s.
Food production has many challenges to address: CO2 emissions, which are projected to increase by two-thirds in the next 20 years, as the global food production increases so does the number of people going hungry, with the number of urban hungry soaring. The environmental issues are not the only ones to face; politics and economic globalization take also the big part in the food world. These days agriculture and food politics has been going through many changes but mostly under the influence of its consumers; back in the days people wanted as little as safety, variety and low costs of food. Now consumers demanding way more – greater freshness, nutritional value, less synthetic chemicals, smaller carbon footprint and less harm to animals. And that’s the time when urban agriculture emerged quite rapidly delivering locally grown and healthy food. Within the political arena, there are a few still in charge of defending the conventional food industries and commercial farms to retain the upper level. Against the hopes of nutrition activists, farm animal welfare defenders, and organic food promoters, the food and agriculture sector is moving towards greater consolidation and better sustainability. Although in social and local terms, food-growing activists know their role is under attack. Caught two words in the middle, is it possible to satisfy both?
Many consumers and farmers have discovered that living in an industrialized culture where the focus has become faster, bigger, and cheaper is not the best way to produce our food. Obsessed with productivity, the agriculture industry is reaping the negative consequences of creating an unsustainable environment for food production. Time and time again, the media captures stories regarding deadly bacterial contamination and dangerous pesticide contamination causing illness and death in our communities. The environment is also damaged and contaminated. This devastating trend, due to irresponsible farming practices as a result of the industrialization of the food industry, has become all too common. Returning to organic farming, which our grandparents referred to as farming, and reclaiming our food is not only our choice, it is our right.
To continue living on the planet climate change must be addressed. Animal agriculture is the primary cause of climate change, due to its mass-producing factories, growing excrement, and overruling corporations. Industrial agriculture has managed to release massive amounts of toxins into the water systems, food, and environment. All of this contamination is taking a big toll on the planet. Continuing to live in this matter will only devastate the planet and its citizens’ health further. For a wholesome life, the citizens must press leaders to end factory farming.
Cruelty toward animals, huge economic problems, and major health concerns are just three reasons why factory farming should be banned worldwide. Many people argue that factory farming is the only way to meet growing demands for food in the world today. However, factory farming is just not necessary, especially when it comes down to killing innocent animals in order to feed people. A way to put an end to the factory farming system is by buying our food from smaller, sustainable farms. These businesses still aim to profit from their labor, but that’s not their only objective. (The Issues: Factory Farming, n.d.) They simply will not sacrifice the health of the land or the quality of food simply to make a few extra dollars.
The commonly debated “greenhouse effect” refers to “the global average temperature increase that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more” (Spencer). President Barack Obama addressed the issue in an effort to highlight its severity, "We have to all shoulder the responsibility for keeping the planet habitable, or we’re going to suffer the consequences – together” (Leader). The earth’s increasing atmospheric and oceanic temperatures result in climate changes due to cumulative amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. As an outcome, researchers around the globe have established that the by-product of burning fossil fuels is the main culprit of the increasing temperatures. Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900, as shown above from a study carried out by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.
Thirty years later, organic farming was in high demand, but suffered developing pains. Although there was agreements being made, there was no regulations put forth towards organic farming. Fast forwarding to present time, many consumers are starting to purchase organic food products even making it a trend. Written in Inouye, Alena, and McCauley’s 2006 article “Organic Farming Should Be Pursued”, “organic farming is gaining in popularity due to Americans ' increasing concern about food safety and environmental protection.” This quote assumes the reasoning behind the sudden popularity in organic farming is society’s attraction towards the idea of a cleaner food industry and environment. The article also mentions, “As a result, sales of organic foods in the United States have increased by more than 20 percent every year since 1996, reaching $7.8 billion in 2000.”(Inouye, Alena, McCauley) The fact that popularity towards organic farming grows at a rate of 20 percent every single year further proves how its movement has such an impact towards the consumers of
Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) purported that climate change has severe consequences for food security in developing countries. There are numerous factors that are solely responsible for this change which are both natural and man-made. Climate change has led to a decrease in quality and quantity of plant produce and livestock because of heat stress, drought and an increase in plant and animal diseases.
As matter of fact, the increasing of greenhouse gases (GHGs) including water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (C...
Climate changes occur in our earth's atmosphere due to a buildup of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases can occur naturally as well as a result of human activities. The greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. “Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when solid waste, fossil fuels, and wood are burned.” (2) The gases help to warm the surface of the Earth. Each greenhouse gas absorbs heat differently. If natural gases did not occur, the temperature of the earth would be considerably cooler. “Problems can occur when higher concentrations of greenhouse gases are present in our atmosphere because they have enhanced our earth's heat trapping capability.” (3)
The backbone of a stable nation, socially and politically, is agriculture. Agriculture is the largest sector that provides a nation with food and employment. Agriculture is currently being affected by climate change and at the same time it is also a contributor to climate change. The drastic elevations in climate change started from the mid to late 20th century and they have been increasing since then (Boisvenue & Running 2006). Climate change is affecting agriculture by interfering with the efficiency of crop production. Agriculture is facing droughts, flooding, sea level elevations, natural disasters, and health hazards for employees. All of these exponents lead to crop failure that creates famines and food prices to rise. On the other side, agriculture is also contributing to climate change through their output of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints. These are caused by the activities that agriculture engages with such as breeding of livestock, ploughing of fields, deforestation, and the use of pesticides and other agrochemicals. Climate change affects countries differently, mainly due to their ability to adapt and their geographical location. Canada and Russia benefit from the changes in climate while Sudan and Bangladesh are affected negatively, struggling to adapt. Agriculture and climate change are interrelated processes that exist mutually making it harder to reduce one without affecting the other.