Environmental and Health Impacts: The Benefits Of Small Farms
Industrialized Farms and Their Effects
From a newborn infant to a ninety-nine year old person, we all must have food to nourish us and keep us alive. As the population of us has grown so has the food production all around the world which has now made mega farms. Yet, while reading Everything Under the Sun by Suzuki and Hanington, they claim, “ To begin, close to a billion people are malnourished and many more are finding it difficult to feed their families as food prices increase.” ( Suzuki et. al 179). So with all these farms why are one seventh of those people malnourished or struggling? Added on, these larger farms are adding pesticides to these crops for cheaper even though there are endless studies to show that these chemicals are hurting our bodies. This is overall not helping human life in any way. Not only does this have an effect on humans but it has an effect on the environment which creates more problems for humans.
Many of these farms are using a large amount of fossil fuels and Suzuki and Hanington explain, “ Burning fossil fuels contribute to climate change and the increasing price of oil is causing food prices to rise. Deforestation and ploughing also release tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing further to climate change.” ( 180). This is huge news because we have always been told that creating more industrialized farms would be beneficial to our communities and overall the world but in fact it may be doing the opposite. Industrialized farms continue to reek our planet with climate change. In earlier days we had smaller farms and in the reading it states that having a small amount of more smaller farms we would be in good shape without all the climate change issues and the food cost. Many people don't look much into the industrialization of farms but it may be time to start so that the world can start reducing climate change and making the world happier and healthier as a whole.
Many of these farms are using a large amount of fossil fuels and Suzuki and Hanington explain, “ Burning fossil fuels contribute to climate change and the increasing price of oil is causing food prices to rise. Deforestation and ploughing also release tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing further to climate change.” ( 180). This is huge news because we have always been told that creating more industrialized farms would be beneficial to our communities and overall the world but in fact it may be doing the opposite. Industrialized farms continue to reek our planet with climate change. In earlier days we had smaller farms and in the reading it states that having a small amount of more smaller farms we would be in good shape without all the climate change issues and the food cost. Many people don't look much into the industrialization of farms but it may be time to start so that the world can start reducing climate change and making the world happier and healthier as a whole.
A field of crops being watered at an industrialized farm
Wikipedia
Plastics vs. Humanity
In the video “ Seas of Plastic” by Charles Moore, he talks about how the garbage patch in the middle of the ocean is harming our environment more than we think. As we throw things away we believe that it's out of sight out of mind when in fact it is not. There is a large patch of garbage in the pacific ocean that is just getting larger. Bottle caps are affecting the wildlife and creating a major problem with endangered species. Moore said that, “Sadly, their parents mistake bottle caps for food tossing about in the ocean surface.” (Moore) This then ends up killing chicks because the plastic can not be digested. If people look at this it might just be seen that some animals are dying and some may go to the lengths and say its not an animal they eat so what's the big deal. This is not only happening to these birds but so many fish. Fish are ingesting just as much plastic and that is effecting people. A good percentage of the world eats fish and we also eat what those animals are eating. The big deal is that these animals dying is messing with the natural ecosystem of the ocean. Its messing up food chains with animals that the world indeed eats. If one species becomes endangered it has a big backlash on the rest of the species that benefit off that animal.
Many times when people think of plastics they think of water bottles and drink holders but actually there are so many more storage plastics that many of us don't think of. A hefty amount of produce is stored in small plastic containers so that people can examine the food and also have a light weight product. Plastic is all around our modern day food production and it amazes many that there has been nothing done to stop the selling of mass produced products in plastic. This is also seen when there is a deadly substance poured into the ocean such as oil. In a report done for Harper’s Magazine Antonia Juhasz wrote, “ In the eighty-seven days it took to secure the well with a temporary cap, more than a hundred million gallons of oil and half a million tons of natural gas — most of which was methane —escaped into the Gulf.”(Juhasz 3) This catastrophic release of oil killed hundreds of thousands of animals. All that contribute to the ecosystem of the ocean. Farms, chemicals, people, and many more are contributing to the declining health of this Earth and if humans continue down this path what will come of the planet.
Many times when people think of plastics they think of water bottles and drink holders but actually there are so many more storage plastics that many of us don't think of. A hefty amount of produce is stored in small plastic containers so that people can examine the food and also have a light weight product. Plastic is all around our modern day food production and it amazes many that there has been nothing done to stop the selling of mass produced products in plastic. This is also seen when there is a deadly substance poured into the ocean such as oil. In a report done for Harper’s Magazine Antonia Juhasz wrote, “ In the eighty-seven days it took to secure the well with a temporary cap, more than a hundred million gallons of oil and half a million tons of natural gas — most of which was methane —escaped into the Gulf.”(Juhasz 3) This catastrophic release of oil killed hundreds of thousands of animals. All that contribute to the ecosystem of the ocean. Farms, chemicals, people, and many more are contributing to the declining health of this Earth and if humans continue down this path what will come of the planet.
Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill approaches the coast of Mobile, Alabama
Michael B. Watkins (2010) Source. Wikipedia.
Keene State College Imapacts
Keene State College has been working very hard to limit our effect on the planet. There are recycle stations in every building on campus which limits out plastic waste. In the dining halls there are compost buckets so instead of creating more food waste the college makes it into soil to help grow more food. As a student at Keene State College, I know there is always room for improvement. To help make our contribution to this huge problem smaller we could only support small farms. Though this is would be more expensive it would be very beneficial for our environment. The less we support these large farms the less money they make which will hopefully bring them down which would help climate change and fossil fuel emissions. Shopping at your local farmers market will most likely find the freshest and healthier options for you and help support smaller farms.
(2005) Source. Wikipedia
In your first paragraph I absolutely agree that the way they are producing these crops in those large industrial farms, and them not knowing what kind of affects it can produce on the human body, especially to our future children and so forth is absolutely scary. Also the fact that our wild life is affected is absolutely sickening but in the end, this is the latest solution they have made in order to feed the growing population… I’m more curious to learn how these large industrialized farms operate because as you say they produce a lot of fossil fuel which is damaging our planet. I like the comparison you did between the effects of chemicals and farms which contribute to the oil spills being harmful to our earth and humans, also the photo you used for oil spill really describes how it travels. I had a hard time reading your introduction, you should start off making an introduction that introduces the different parts of your blog.
ReplyDeleteThe most new thing to me from this post is that it took 87 days to put a temporary cap on the well. I would like to know how the oil people were able to put a cap on the well while it was leaking and why did it take 87 days to do it? Maybe they had to push through some of the plastic trash that the ocean is filled with. I agree that local farmers should be supported and that industrialized farms are harming the environment, I wrote about it in my blog post as well.
ReplyDeleteI like the layout of your blog but the wording/phrasing on this post could use a little bit of work. For future blog posts I would recommend putting the post through some sort of text-to-speech reader before posting it so that you can hear the way it sounds being read out loud. Also, the pictures and captions might look better if they were moved to the center.
I completely agree with you when it comes to the damage being done by industrialization in farms. Those huge farms just pump out carbon dioxide, guzzle gasoline and oil, and produce a food product that no one really knows if it is good for you or not. My family actually owns a small apple farm in Londonderry New Hampshire, Sunnycrest Farms, and we have so many people coming up to us and asking us what we spray or put on our apples, they are pleased when we actually can tell them and actually know. As for Keene State, there is absolutely room for improvement. Not that the campus isn’t doing a lot already, like you stated with the recycling bins and compost bins. I really enjoyed your blog, I felt that it was a good read with a lot of good information, I also enjoyed your pictures quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteOut of all of the blogs I read, I think your blog was the most interesting to me. I am very interested in this topic, and I think you did a good job covering the information about it. I think your first picture depicting the chickens, was sad, but also shows the reader what they are about to read, and pulls them in. I loved that you talked about deforestation, and it was interesting to learn something new about that. I am a vegetarian, and the thing that resonated with me most was what you said about adding chemicals into the meat that people are eating. On a technical aspect I think your blog is very visually appealing and straight forward. I like the background and how it is just an easy format to read and understand. Maybe you could make the font a little bit bigger so it would be easier to read, and maybe link some of your sources, and I think your blog will really benefit from it.
ReplyDelete