Our Growth is Our Fall
Hello and welcome to my second AP (action project) for my class Food for Thought. In this class we are studying This class is a buddle of integrated humanities classes including, history, geology, and anthropology. The history of food and how it helped build civilizations, the geology of the origins and travels of food, and it all goes into anthropology! In this unit, morbidly titled Death, we explore the dangers of monocultures and colonialism. We also learned about trade history, and we continue to read the book by Andrew Rimas and Evan D.G. named Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. We also went on one FE (Feild Experience) to the Lincoln Park Conservatory. We went there to see the thriving polyculture they had and to better understand the effects of trade and colonization because without them those plants wouldn't be there.
We are doing this AP to gain an understanding of how the food system is going to look when we are older, and what we can do to stop it from becoming a disaster.
Script:
As of making this, there are more than 7.6 billion people in the world; 65.5% of that number are over the age of 15, which adds up to 4.94 billion people who are eating 2000 daily calories. That is 9.88 trillion calories eaten per day. With such a sizeable intake of calories is there enough output? The food system includes the governing and economics of food production, the sustainability of it, the degree to which we discard food, and how food production affects the environment. With the structure of agriculture we have adapted for urbanites (producing food in a different location than processing them to where they will be bought) we don’t have much time before our populations outgrow our crops and pulverizes out food system. Population growth is a huge danger to our limited agricultural resources, and we need a solution.
Our food will become extinct before we do because humans are reproducing at a startling rate. In the 1800s we had more than 909 million people, a century later in the 1900s we had a population of 1.6 billion people. Then, in 2000 we had a population of 6.2 billion people, right now eighteen years later, we are at 7.6 billion. According to the UN, the projected population number for 2050 is 9.7 billion. At the rate humans are reproducing we will run out of food sources sooner than later. The average American will eat 1,996 pounds of food in one year. The average around the world is 1,961 pounds, and this is catastrophic when you see how vast our population is as of now and how big it will develop to be.
In the past 80 years, we have already lost 93% of seeds in fruits and vegetables. According to Dr. Mercola (The Extinction of Fruits and Vegtables in 80 Years), “If you were alive in 1903, you would have been able to choose from more than 500 varieties of cabbage, 400 varieties of peas and tomatoes, and 285 varieties of cucumbers. Eighty years later in 1983, the varieties have dwindled sharply, to just 28 varieties of cabbage, 25 varieties of peas, 79 for tomatoes, and just 16 varieties of cucumbers.” Our need to have fruits and vegetables that didn’t have seeds for our pleasure terminated so many varieties of them. 60,000 to 100,000 plant species are on the verge of extinction, and the growing population is not helping. If back when we had just over 1.6 billion people (1900), we lost so many fruits and vegetables, how many more we lose in eighty more years with an even bigger population? We will no longer have a favorable selection of fruits and vegetables, we may even dwindle in any sort of fruit and vegetable. Not having them will cause a domino effect as many of our foods are made with some parts of plants, fruits, vegetables, or are fed with them. Not to mention what this will do to the environment; We have already inflicted enough devastation on the environment by growing plants in locations in which they are not native to, but imagine what will happen when plants in natures ecosystem become extinct because of our need to satiate our growing hunger.
Another complication that will come with population growth is the cost of food. Between the years 2000 and 2012, the World Bank global food price index increased by 104.5%, at an average annual rate of 6.5%. Already there are more than 800 million people without enough food to eat, that number will continue to grow because of the drastic spike in food prices because of the growing requirement for food caused by our growing number of people. We must also acknowledge the pay of the people who grow and transport our food, their paychecks will plausibly decrease in quantity because of the strain in money and the need for cheap abundant food. But what if cutting the payment of farmers isn't feasible and they actually need a raise? This will cause the prices of foodstuff to become so immense that even fewer people will be able to food, let alone good and nutritious food.
Every living organism needs water, including plants. Only .37% of the world’s water is potable and accessible, clean water is hard to come by, yet 69% of freshwater withdrawals are used for the sole purpose of agriculture. With an increasing number of humans the need for water will also skyrocket, and like most things, freshwater is one thing we can't promise will always be available. In fact according to The Future of Global Water Stress: An Integrated Assessment, "The combined effects of socioeconomic growth and uncertain climate change lead to a 1.0 to 1.3 billion increase of the world's 2050 projected population living in regions with overly exploited water conditions— where total potential water requirements will consistently exceed surface-water supply. ....this would imply that adaptive measures would be taken to meet these surface-water shortfalls ..." There will be a tremendous strain on water in the upcoming years because of the growing population and this could leave many deprived of fresh water, especially people who live in third world countries where it is already hard enough to obtain water.
We are not the first to experience strain in food system because of population growth; According to Empires of Food, "The Neolithic tribes that learned a knack for gardening were able to feed more babies. Over a few generations, their offspring outnumbered the children of their neighbors who were still chasing antelope. As the gardener plucked weeds and killed or domesticated the local wildlife, the ecosystem changed. It became softer, more receptive to farming. This Neolithic revolution altered both the "nature" of humanity and of the Earth." (pg. 114) The growth in population in the times of the Neolithic tribe caused people to grow upon agriculture because they were running out of animals to hunt. This was a drastic change not only for them but for the environment. And if we want to keep up with the demand for food or the near lack of certain foods we must also make drastic changes to our ways of agriculture.
One of my solutions to help in the strain population growth has on the food system is for people to limit reproducing. There are so many children that would love to be adopted, and adopting would limit the production of more humans to feed. My second suggestion is to become acquainted with the idea that we have to start eating things that are abundant. Weeds, like dandelions, are edible and so are plenty of bugs, we have to understand that because of the tension in our current food system we must turn to calories that are more available. Lastly, the most realistic suggestion is for people to limit their eating out and to not be so picky about seeds. Restaurants and fast food places use ingredients that are not growing in abundance in myriad. It would be best to make food at home where you know how much you are using, and from where. And humans being picky about seeds in vegetables and fruits caused the loss of many varieties of them. These suggestions will help solve the 2nd SDG (Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN), zero hunger, and 11, sustainable cities and communities. It will help solve the hunger issue because if we actually implement these ideas we can make food more available for people in need. Which leads us to 11, sustainable cities and communities, because we will be learning how to adapt to the future of our eating (bugs, what we consider weeds, and other available resources) we will be learning to be sustainable communities who can overcome adversity!
Population growth and overpopulation are very serious threats the future of human consumption, it can cause a decrease in water availability, make certain crops go extinct, make the prices of food go immensely high, and starving people would even more so not be able to afford food. If we removed the stigma of eating things that are more available and are in large quantities we can lower our dependence on our current agriculture. And if we limit our reproduction and adopt instead we will even more so limit the demand for more and more food, as well as limit our eating out because we don't know what is in our foods and if it is in abundance or if it is near extinction. We can not bring more humans into this world fully knowing that they will not have enough to eat because of us.
We are doing this AP to gain an understanding of how the food system is going to look when we are older, and what we can do to stop it from becoming a disaster.
Script:
As of making this, there are more than 7.6 billion people in the world; 65.5% of that number are over the age of 15, which adds up to 4.94 billion people who are eating 2000 daily calories. That is 9.88 trillion calories eaten per day. With such a sizeable intake of calories is there enough output? The food system includes the governing and economics of food production, the sustainability of it, the degree to which we discard food, and how food production affects the environment. With the structure of agriculture we have adapted for urbanites (producing food in a different location than processing them to where they will be bought) we don’t have much time before our populations outgrow our crops and pulverizes out food system. Population growth is a huge danger to our limited agricultural resources, and we need a solution.
Our food will become extinct before we do because humans are reproducing at a startling rate. In the 1800s we had more than 909 million people, a century later in the 1900s we had a population of 1.6 billion people. Then, in 2000 we had a population of 6.2 billion people, right now eighteen years later, we are at 7.6 billion. According to the UN, the projected population number for 2050 is 9.7 billion. At the rate humans are reproducing we will run out of food sources sooner than later. The average American will eat 1,996 pounds of food in one year. The average around the world is 1,961 pounds, and this is catastrophic when you see how vast our population is as of now and how big it will develop to be.
In the past 80 years, we have already lost 93% of seeds in fruits and vegetables. According to Dr. Mercola (The Extinction of Fruits and Vegtables in 80 Years), “If you were alive in 1903, you would have been able to choose from more than 500 varieties of cabbage, 400 varieties of peas and tomatoes, and 285 varieties of cucumbers. Eighty years later in 1983, the varieties have dwindled sharply, to just 28 varieties of cabbage, 25 varieties of peas, 79 for tomatoes, and just 16 varieties of cucumbers.” Our need to have fruits and vegetables that didn’t have seeds for our pleasure terminated so many varieties of them. 60,000 to 100,000 plant species are on the verge of extinction, and the growing population is not helping. If back when we had just over 1.6 billion people (1900), we lost so many fruits and vegetables, how many more we lose in eighty more years with an even bigger population? We will no longer have a favorable selection of fruits and vegetables, we may even dwindle in any sort of fruit and vegetable. Not having them will cause a domino effect as many of our foods are made with some parts of plants, fruits, vegetables, or are fed with them. Not to mention what this will do to the environment; We have already inflicted enough devastation on the environment by growing plants in locations in which they are not native to, but imagine what will happen when plants in natures ecosystem become extinct because of our need to satiate our growing hunger.
Another complication that will come with population growth is the cost of food. Between the years 2000 and 2012, the World Bank global food price index increased by 104.5%, at an average annual rate of 6.5%. Already there are more than 800 million people without enough food to eat, that number will continue to grow because of the drastic spike in food prices because of the growing requirement for food caused by our growing number of people. We must also acknowledge the pay of the people who grow and transport our food, their paychecks will plausibly decrease in quantity because of the strain in money and the need for cheap abundant food. But what if cutting the payment of farmers isn't feasible and they actually need a raise? This will cause the prices of foodstuff to become so immense that even fewer people will be able to food, let alone good and nutritious food.
Every living organism needs water, including plants. Only .37% of the world’s water is potable and accessible, clean water is hard to come by, yet 69% of freshwater withdrawals are used for the sole purpose of agriculture. With an increasing number of humans the need for water will also skyrocket, and like most things, freshwater is one thing we can't promise will always be available. In fact according to The Future of Global Water Stress: An Integrated Assessment, "The combined effects of socioeconomic growth and uncertain climate change lead to a 1.0 to 1.3 billion increase of the world's 2050 projected population living in regions with overly exploited water conditions— where total potential water requirements will consistently exceed surface-water supply. ....this would imply that adaptive measures would be taken to meet these surface-water shortfalls ..." There will be a tremendous strain on water in the upcoming years because of the growing population and this could leave many deprived of fresh water, especially people who live in third world countries where it is already hard enough to obtain water.
We are not the first to experience strain in food system because of population growth; According to Empires of Food, "The Neolithic tribes that learned a knack for gardening were able to feed more babies. Over a few generations, their offspring outnumbered the children of their neighbors who were still chasing antelope. As the gardener plucked weeds and killed or domesticated the local wildlife, the ecosystem changed. It became softer, more receptive to farming. This Neolithic revolution altered both the "nature" of humanity and of the Earth." (pg. 114) The growth in population in the times of the Neolithic tribe caused people to grow upon agriculture because they were running out of animals to hunt. This was a drastic change not only for them but for the environment. And if we want to keep up with the demand for food or the near lack of certain foods we must also make drastic changes to our ways of agriculture.
One of my solutions to help in the strain population growth has on the food system is for people to limit reproducing. There are so many children that would love to be adopted, and adopting would limit the production of more humans to feed. My second suggestion is to become acquainted with the idea that we have to start eating things that are abundant. Weeds, like dandelions, are edible and so are plenty of bugs, we have to understand that because of the tension in our current food system we must turn to calories that are more available. Lastly, the most realistic suggestion is for people to limit their eating out and to not be so picky about seeds. Restaurants and fast food places use ingredients that are not growing in abundance in myriad. It would be best to make food at home where you know how much you are using, and from where. And humans being picky about seeds in vegetables and fruits caused the loss of many varieties of them. These suggestions will help solve the 2nd SDG (Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN), zero hunger, and 11, sustainable cities and communities. It will help solve the hunger issue because if we actually implement these ideas we can make food more available for people in need. Which leads us to 11, sustainable cities and communities, because we will be learning how to adapt to the future of our eating (bugs, what we consider weeds, and other available resources) we will be learning to be sustainable communities who can overcome adversity!
Population growth and overpopulation are very serious threats the future of human consumption, it can cause a decrease in water availability, make certain crops go extinct, make the prices of food go immensely high, and starving people would even more so not be able to afford food. If we removed the stigma of eating things that are more available and are in large quantities we can lower our dependence on our current agriculture. And if we limit our reproduction and adopt instead we will even more so limit the demand for more and more food, as well as limit our eating out because we don't know what is in our foods and if it is in abundance or if it is near extinction. We can not bring more humans into this world fully knowing that they will not have enough to eat because of us.
Citations
Blanc, Ross. “How Does Population Growth Affects the Environment
Sustainability. Apr. 7, 2017. Web. May 19, 2018.
Dimick, Dennis. “As World’s Population Booms, Will Its Resources Be
Sep. 21, 2014. Web. May 19, 2018.
May 19, 2018.
Mercola.com. Merola Take Control of Your Health. Mar. 11, 2015. Web. May 19, 2018.
Fraser, Evan D. G., and Andrew Rimas. “Empires of Food:
Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations”. New York:
Free, 2010. Print.
2015. Web. May 22, 2018.
Schlosser, C.A., K.M. Strzepek, X. Gao, A. Gueneau, C. Fant, S.
Paltsev, B. Rasheed, T. Smith-Greico, É. Blanc, H.D. Jacoby and
J.M. Reilly. “The Future of Global Water Stress: An Integrated
Web. May 20, 2018.
Sloat, Sarah. “How Much Do Human Eat By the Numbers? In The United
17, 2018.
Womb. Nov. 4, 2017. Web. May 22, 2018.
DESA Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Unitednations.org
July 29 2015. Web. May 20, 2018.
Worldwatch.org. Worldwatch Institute Vision for a Sustainable
World. Apr. 11, 2013. Web. May 20, 2018.
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