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Our world has evolved exponentially over the decades, centuries, and eons. We have evolved, not only physically, but in the skills that we have obtained. We have learned how to make fire and tame the elements. Among these advances, we have learned how to farm. Before this advance, we were hunter gatherers, but we needed a more convenient source of food. As hunter-gathers, we were a more successful race in terms of health and happiness.
The health of people quickly dropped after farming was introduced. With height being a big indicator of health, hunter-gatherers were always, and still are, taller than farmers. When agriculture was introduced, there was more infant death, tooth decay, and iron deficiencies. In the 17th century, the average lifespan
Hunting and gathering is probably a preferable lifestyle compared to a farmer, but it seems a bit over the top to blame absolutely every problem in our society on agriculture. It’s a common argument, but Jared Diamond's theory does seem to be quite an over-simplification. For example, he argues that inequality between sexes could be caused by agricultural because women were made beasts of burden and given greater pressure to work on the fields. However, the root cause of that isn’t agriculture, it’s sexism and stereotyping, because without an outdated sexist mindset no one would treat women differently in the agricultural department, and it is an oversimplification to ignore this. Furthermore, because of farming and globalization people now are given even more opportunity for a diverse diet. Although early farmers had access to only one or a few crops versus hunter-gatherers who had an entire forest of varied food, people nowadays have many more options than both hunter-gatherers and early farmers combined. A grocery store has ten times as many diverse and varying food items as a forest does, providing food from all corners of the world not just a single location or country, allowing people to create a perfectly balanced diet if they so choose. In conclusion, I agree with Jared Diamond's thesis on certain grounds, but I mostly disagree that the introduction of agriculture was the “worst mistake in human
1)Paleo-Indians, the first Americans lived in bands of fifteen to fifty people, and traveled within their territory to hunt. Archaic Indians experienced a warming climate. One of the results of the warming climate was better hunting. Forest grew larger with a greater variety of plants and animals. The changes allowed some Indians to reside in permanent homes. The ample supply of food allowed more peoples to live on less acreage. The weather also allowed for specialization of caring for plants; this was the beginning of controlling crops to better supply the people.
FIRST ESSAY: Thomas Hobbes described the life of most Englishmen in the 17th century as “nasty, brutish and short.” How far does the evidence presented in Past Speaks chpt. 2, suggest that little had changed by the mid 18th century?
There were many changes brought to the Native American societies by colonists. During the period of 1492 to 1700 there was great conflict and hardship in the new colonies. These conflicts and hardships required adaptation by all. Two immense changes to Native Americans brought by Europeans were disease and religion.
The 17th century lifestyle in New England differed greatly from the lifestyle in the South and England at the time. New England colonists reaped the benefits of longevity and as a result, many families grew to be extremely large and developed. The colonists, primarily united under the shared goal of escaping religious persecution, established many small towns that were one of the first to exercise democracy. Education was also an important part of the New England lifestyle. Due to the climate, the economy in New England was vastly different compared to the South. Unlike the South, which mostly relied on cash crops, the New England economy was composed of many different things. These factors helped shape the New England lifestyle into one that was very different than that of the South.
For a long time, all groups of people on Earth were hunter-gatherers. Why did some of them being food production and why did they begin around 8500 B.C.? Thomas Hobbes described the life of hunter-gatherers as “nasty, brutish, and short.” They woke up each day knowing that they must obtain food to survive.
Diamond states that the reason hunter-gatherer groups became agriculturists was simply because it was easier to create more food for your individual group if it was grown, this statement does have validity. Everyone would be responsible for themselves and would be expected to help out. There wouldn’t be the constant grumbling that there are so many people being lazy and living off of handouts like there are in the modern world today.
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 idea of the family farm has been destroyed by large food corporations. As discussed in class, industrial farming typically leads to the mass produ...
At some point in time, human populations decided to settle down and harvest their own food instead of searching for it in the woods. In modern times, people tend to view this as a great advancement or revolution. Why would people want to search for food daily and forage for tubers or berries when they could just head to the supermarket or their own backyard? Scientist have determined, however, that this development brought many negative effects to the human population. The societies who adopted agriculture were malnourished and unhealthy, but they gained enough of an advantage over hunter/gatherer populations that the benefits outweighed the cost – at least in their eyes. Our society today has been shaped by this “revolution” and its effects,
Some people think all animals are equal. To understand this, humans must be considered animals. Humans are far more civilized than any animal, they have the power, along with understanding, to control many types of sickness and disease. This understanding that humans have, keeps them at the top of the food chain. Factory farms produce the meat that most people in densely populated areas consume each day.
Our world is growing! Growing in population that is, but the resources are staying the same. To help with the growing of the population that will be happening in the 21st century, science and agriculture need to work hand-in-hand. They need to stand together to make a break through together, to insure that everyone will have food on their plate. We need to work to have larger yields with the land we have. Some people say that humans need to change their diet, and others say that we should destroy hundreds of acres of wild land.
Farming has evolved from providing food only for your family to providing food for your whole community. This aspect really kicked off in Europe during the middle ages when a new crop rotation plan emerged. Crop rotation is necessary. If every year the same crop is grown on the same soil the plants will keep taking the same nutrients needed for its survival. Previously the farmers used the Roman system, which is a two crop rotation. With this system the soil never had a break, there was always a crop being grown (“Feeding” par. 8). The new crop rotation plan was a three crop rotation. This system is very different from the Roman system. Every third year the field will lay fallow being used for pasture. When the field is used for pasture, the animals waste is spread out all over the field while they graze...
Agriculture is quite possibly the most important advancement and discovery that humanity has made. It produces the one thing that we need the most: food. It has been around since 9500 BC, and can be the oldest sign of mankind’s acumen and the development and evolving of our minds and creations. Agriculture has been mastered throughout hundreds of years and is one of our most important resources on Earth, along with water and fossil fuels. Although the older farming methods from ancient times seem somewhat mediocre and barbaric, they were very ingenious and advanced for that time period. Over thousands of years, we have improved the way agriculture is used, how land is cultivated, the various techniques of farming and irrigation, and the tools and mechanics used. Numerous things that we see as aboriginal today, such as using a hand plow, were extremely contemporary in ancient times, and played key roles in the development of man and society, since quick labor was not abundant before this time. We are now extremely advanced in agriculture and irrigation and the tools used to farm and grow and harvest crops. We have learned from our past and ancestors how to grow and evolve in our methods and have advanced forward greatly.
The hunter-gatherer diet had great variation of nutrients with increased amounts of animal products and also plant foods. As they transitioned to agriculture about 10,000 years ago, the great variety of foods was impossible to maintain. Instead, humans’ diet was primarily made of larger quantities of the fewer plants they domesticated, such as rice, wheat, and corn. As dietary diversity was in decline, the energy expenditure of growing crops was higher, especially in certain seasons. Nutritional deficiencies started to show up in populations where diet was based on one or two staples of food. Ancient bones show a variety of information about how nutritional status of humans was affected by the transition to agriculture. Claire Cassidy’s comparison between Indian Knoll hunter-gatherer and Hardin Village skeletons shows that tooth decay and porotic hyperostosis are more prevalent in humans who had agricultural diets (as cited in Wiley & Allen, 2013, p.90). Also, growth disruption is more severe and occurred for a longer period of time in the groups that relied on domesticating and growing their