Reading -
Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization
Food shortage creates severe stress on governments of countries already on the edge of chaos, potentially bringing down global civilization not just individual governments. "Our continuing failure to deal with the environmental declines that are undermining the world food economy - most important, falling water tables, eroding soils, and rising temperatures - forces me to conclude that such a collapse [of civilization] is possible,"(*). "In the 20th century the main threat to international security was superpower conflict; today it is failing states, the absence of power,"(*) - failing states are those where national governments can no longer provide personal security, food security, and basic social services - disintegrating order. "Once states fail, no one assumes responsibility for their debt to outside lenders. If enough states disintegrate, their fall will threaten the stability of global civilization itself,"(*). The surge in world grain prices, is shifting to momentary event-driven to long term trend-driven as population and industrial (ethanol) growth rises in conjunction with rising affluence. "The U.S., in a misguided effort to reduce its dependence on foreign oil by substituting grain-based fuels, is generating global food insecurity on a scale not see before,"(*). Water shortages are the biggest threat to global supply, having to do with inefficient irrigation; not all aquifers are replenishable, especially ancient, fossil, aquifers such as the U.S. Ogallala Aquifer. As water tables have fallen wheat crops and rice production has declined especially in China, and for countries with a precarious difference between consumption and survival, as in India, this is exponentially worrying. Loss of fertile soil - wind and water soil erosion from logging and rising surface temperatures, the green revolution is becoming increasingly inapplicable, "conventional plant-breeding techniques have already tapped most of the potential for raising crop yields,"(*) we have run out of both extensive and intensive agricultural measures. "Individual countries acting in their narrowly defined self-interest are actually worsening the plight of the many,"(*) to decrease domestic prices and increase profits. Import dependent countries are the most impacted grossing food-import anxiety bringing social disorder. These have started creating long-term bilateral trade agreements. "Since the current world food shortage is trend-driven, the environmental trends that cause it must be reversed,"(*) from plan A - a shift away from business - to a civilization-saving Plan B:
-decrease net carbon emissions by raising energy efficiency and investing in renewables
-ban deforestation and plant billions of trees
-stabilize population, eliminate poverty by increasing education of women
-restoring Earth's natural systems and resources, importantly conserving soils
The Plan seen for promoting development as long as it is cost friendly, humanitarian and politically correct but now a new vision arises, that it might be the only way to prevent our collapse. Effectively this plan is a yearly $200 billion, a sixth of the current military budget and its installment needs to be quick "the world is in a race between political tipping points and natural ones,"(*). It is nature that sets the deadlines and nature is its own timekeeper. And we human beings cannot see the clock (*).
According to Lester Brown, what is the greatest threat to global political stability?
In short; it is clear to Brown that food shortages will bring about global political instability. Countries have already started to mold their food boundaries to that of their own. Diminishing then mutually benefitting ties on an international level to work on their own domestic stability, yet "in spite of such stopgap measures, soaring food prices and spreading hunger in many other countries are beginning to break down the social order,"(*). Individuals suffering from hunger act in similar ways, they want to protect their own, not the society as a whole. This is what happens when people are driven to a condition of crisis, just as the countries contract, the people do so as well most likely bringing about different forms of social disorder - including political instability. How can there be a leader when there are no people that listen? "No country is immune to the effects of tightening food supplies, not even the U.S., the world’s breadbasket. If China turns to the world market for massive quantities of grain, as it has recently done for soybeans, it will have to buy from the U.S. For U.S. consumers, that would mean competing for the U.S. grain harvest with 1.3 billion Chinese consumers with fast-rising incomes,"(*) those who may benefit with an outward movement of food supply will try and most likely successfully exploit those measures as long as the supplier gains substantial profit.
* citation for Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization by Lester R. Brown (S 25)
Women's Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation
"Nature’s diversity is seen as not intrinsically valuable in itself, its value is conferred only through economic exploitation for commercial gain. This criterion of commercial value thus reduces diversity to a problem, a deficiency. Destruction of diversity and the creation of monocultures becomes an imperative for capitalist patriarchy,"(*) marginalization of women and the destruction of biodiversity are equated, man feels the need for power that is measured by what he is able to take. Diversity holds also the principle of women's work and knowledge. "Tribal and peasant societies’ biodiversity-based technologies, however, are seen as backward and primitive and are, therefore, displaced by ‘progressive’ technologies that destroy both diversity and people’s livelihoods,"(*) unless created by men in suits, the majority of native women's is unacknowledged. There is a widely accepted general misconception that diversity-based production systems are low-productivity systems - look at monocultures who create a positive feedback loop within their own existence. In conjunction with labour, sustainability is of natural resources and livelihoods; biodiversity conservation is linked with livelihood conservation. Nature's production costs and effort go unnoticed, just as for women; "these omissions arise not because too few women work, but too many women do too much work of too many different kinds,"(*). Women's invisibility is founded on the same fragmented and reductionist approach that treats natural resources as independent entities. "Women’s work and knowledge in agriculture is uniquely found in the spaces ‘in between’ the interstices of ‘sectors’, the invisible ecological flows between sectors, and it is through these linkages that ecological stability, sustainability and productivity under resourcescarce conditions are maintained,"(*). "Women have been seed custodians since time immemorial, and their knowledge and skills should be the basis of all crop-improvement strategies,"(*) however since it may not arise from labs and white coats it has been disregarded even though it is a systematically reliable way to conserve rich biodiversity. Corporations value nature through it raw materials, the value of seeds is based on its discontinuity, so that an increased amount can be sold and patented. Shiva claims that "patents and biotechnology contribute to a two-way theft. From Third World producers they steal biodiversity. From consumers everywhere they steal safe and healthy food,"(*).
What is an "ecofeminist"?
This article places an emphasis on the similarities between the conditions of natural biodiversity and women in our society. Claiming that "their experiences as women in male-dominated societies provides them with a different way of knowing and thinking about environmental issues,"(*) emphasizing on both of their invisibilities in our modern materialist and consumeristic society. "Women produce through biodiversity, whereas corporate scientists produce through uniformity,"(*) women believe in the intrinsic value of biodiversity, the essence of the seed is its continuity of life which is the complete opposite of corporations. An ecofeminist is one that sees the world through their own bodies, they have a more familiar understanding of ecological misconceptions rooting from their own conditions, therefore support the environment through their own native existence.
* citation for Women's Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation by Vandana Shiva (S 37)
Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems
"No ecosystem on Earth's surface is free of pervasive influence,"(*) human impacts have drastically increased in the last few decades. The authors explore "how large humanity looms as a presence on the globe,"(*). Our human enterprise has transformed land surfaces, altered biogeochemical cycles, and lost biodiversity. These changes bring aboard a further complication with its own entity, global climate change which is followed by irreversible losses. Land transformation has been the most substantial alteration as it interacts with all other aspects of the world, aquatic systems, atmosphere, and biosphere - it is also the primary cause of biodiversity loss. It leads an increased concentration of greenhouse gases, erosion decreases its fertility and pollutes surrounding waters. "Understanding land transformation is a difficult challenge; it requires integrating the social, economic, and cultural causes of land transformation with evaluations of its biophysical nature and consequences,"(*) this approach however, is essential to predicting its course and further physical alterations. The oceanic alterations are more difficult to quantify it is clear they remain substantial just as well. Over 50 % of coastal wetlands that mediate land and sea have been transformed or destroyed. Overharvesting fisheries have altered the negative feedback loop of predator-prey relationships. There has been an increased frequency, intensity, and duration of harmful algal blooms in coastal areas causing extensive production of toxins, fish kills and shellfish poisoning. There has been an explicit increase in atmospheric CO2, primarily due to extensive fossil fuel combustion, the land and ocean's ability to sequester carbon has also exponentially decreased. And as it "affects species differentially means that it is likely to drive substantial changes in the species composition and dynamics of all terrestrial ecosystems,"(*). "To meet increasing demands for the limited supply of fresh water, humanity has extensively altered river systems through diversions and impoundments,"(*) major watersheds have been depleted, such as the Aral Sea, promoting the loss of biota and increased salt concentrations. Water diversions for agriculture and electricity have indirectly begun to affect land biotic habitats, such as the Danube River dam. Alterations to the hydrological cycle can affects atmospheric and land conditions. Biological nitrogen fixation has decreased, this causes an increase in atmospheric increase in nitrous oxide, acid rain and photochemical smog - in addition to driving cultural eutrophication being increased by an increased release from agriculture. Synthetic organic chemicals have persisted in the environment as processes of biomagnification and accumulation ensue, a most commonly referred to example is DDT and PCBs. CFC's who are harmless in the troposphere contribute greatly to stratosphere ozone depletion, which causes a variety of serious health problems and environmental threats. Human modifications have exponentially increased loss of genetic variability, homogenizing Earth's biota. The disproportionate large mammal loss have caused "fundamental change in the dynamics of those systems,"(*). "Conservation efforts focused on individual endangered species have yielded some successes, they are expensive - and the protection or restoration of whole ecosystems often represents the most effective way to sustain genetic, population, and species diversity,"(*) so although they are successes they play a small part in the holistic solution. "In addition to extinction, humanity has caused a rearrangement of Earth’s biotic systems, through the mixing of floras and faunas that had long been isolated geographically,"(*) causing irreversible biological invasions, and international commerce is one of its main drivers, save for climate change. We need to decrease and stabilize our population numbers, and increase the understanding of Earth's ecological processes within our population. The "maintaining the diversity of “wild” species and the functioning of “wild” ecosystems will require increasing human involvement,"(*).
Would it help to reduce the human impact on the Earth if we could reduce the human population?
"We live on a human-dominated planet - and the momentum of human population growth, together with the imperative for further economic development in most of the world, ensures that our dominance will increase,"(*) this dominance will be the cause of our collapse if nothing is done. Not only is it a question of reducing human population, but reducing our affluent populations. A decrease in the Third World will only be a very minimal fraction of the impact in reducing affluent, western, numbers. "Reducing the rate of growth in human effects on Earth involves slowing human population growth and using resources as efficiently as is practical. Often it is the waste products and by-products of human activity that drive global environmental change,"(*) to meet increasing demands we are depleting the limited supply of natural resources. From aquatic systems to land, tigers to phytoplankton, to even more minute organisms. "Our activities are causing rapid, novel, and substantial changes to Earth’s ecosystems,"(*) so yes, reducing the population will reduce the human impact on Earth in the long-run however, it is important to note that even if we stopped all our activities our impacts will continues to resonate, the atmospheric carbon, the stratospheric CFC's, the radioactive waste, landfills, etc.
* citation for Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems by Peter M. Vitousek, Harold A. Mooney, and Jerry M. Melillo (S 9)
Activity -
Ted Talk: My Wish: Build the Encyclopedia of Life by E.O. Wilson
E.O. Wilson talks on behalf of his constituency - the million trillion small creatures that all of humanity would cease to exist without, to make a plea. This choice "is a culmination of a lifetime commitment,"(*) beginning from his childhood Coast of Alabama. Recognizing the little things that compose the foundation of our ecosystems, who run the world, he reach a strange yet lush frontier of biology "that it seemed as though it exists on another planet. In fact, we live on a mostly unexplored planet,"(*). New species continue to be discovered and diagnosed by scientists. Yet we still don't know what they are all doing, "we are living on a planet with a lot of activities, with reference to our living environment, done by faith and guess alone,"(*). Over 500 species of bacteria live symbiotically inside our bodies, responsible for prevent pathogenic bacteria infections. All of life combined is exceeded by the existing variety of genes on the planet. There have been advances changes with genomic technology, enabling us to "hunt bacteria in tiny crevices of the habitat's surface in the way you go watching of birds with binoculars,"(*). With unfortunate ingenuity and ceaseless energy we will destroy nature's masterpieces at the peril of our existence. Wilson had this metallic gold ant conservationist epiphany, he "realized that these species and a large part of the other unique, marvelous animals and plants on that island - and this is true of practically every part of the world - which took millions of years to evolve, are in the process of disappearing forever. And so it is everywhere one looks,"(*). He created the HIPPO juggernaut: habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, population expansion, and over-harvesting. Our desperately incomplete knowledge of biodiversity we are at risk of losing more than we realize, we are "flying blind into our environmental future,"(*). Wilson states that "we need to have the biosphere properly explored so that we can understand and competently manage it,"(*). To strive and work together in the creation of the Encyclopedia of Life, a key tool to inspire the preservation of Earth's biodiversity. Having the improved science and technology of today, his wish it is to address transcendent qualities in the human consciousness and sense of human need, and to inspire a new generation of biologists.
This is conflicting, because on the one hand I believe that we should leave part of our world unexplored and rested - pristine, however if this research will leave nature unharmed and inspire initiatives to conserve and preserve ecosystems I would logically support it. Unfortunately, we all know such research explorations have the ability to hinder the organism's niche and ecosystems in its entirety. Thus, after some years, I still remain undecided. I do very much believe that people need form a bond, a kinship, with nature or simply the environment that surrounds them. As it should inspire them to respect each and every organisms that exists in addition to the abiotic environment, therefore fighting for its conservation, for their existence. However, I do recognize that there are people who have already found such kinship and will work ethically, in the most auspicious manner - in order to partake in the Encyclopedia of Life - that would further inspire conservation.
In-Class Blog Questions -
Food Systems:
Consider you food system; What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? Consider taste, nutrition, cost, equity, and environmental issues.
Like- a wide variety of food is available at the local grocery store, my diet is vegetarian-focused and I am able to procure hearty plant based items (including legumes) swiftly, you are able to buy local foods which supports the domestic -more sustainable- production
Dislike- organic and plant based foods may be a little more costly, as the grocery stores handle a wide variety of food a large fraction of that amount are inefficient, unhealthy, unsustainable, mass produced, and still sometimes costly food products - these products are also most consumed, therefore standard grocery stores and their consumers thus support an unsustainable, and sometimes unethical industry of commercial producers. In addition, the externalities cost are not include in the market price of such products, creating an imbalance in equity of all products, supporting consumers who purchase inefficient food items - the production of such items consists of a high variety of environmental issues concerning the use of pesticides, insecticides, tillage, factory farms, irrigation on desert land, unethical animal treatment as well as individuals from host countries of production, extensive fuel use, and many more.
Zoos:
What role, if any, should zoos play in conservation / education? Is it ethical to keep animals in zoos? If so, what size / type of animal or zoo? Do you enjoy visiting zoos?
Zoos should not be the first solution we conclude for conservation, however that may be, it is still a considerably useful tool especially in the coming years as habitat destruction increases. They should work as the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park did; provide rehabilitation for endangered species and release them once they are in safe numbers and health. And not to the extent that animals believe the zoo is their new environment, but more like a temporary safe house. If zoos were created for educational purposes then their model has certainly failed. We should not extract animals, especially endangered species, from their niche for our own purpose, that is simply unethical. Animals should not be caged in areas that may be over 90 percent smaller than their natural habitat. Because what education does that portray to children? That all animals exist and we can have them, or that animals should live in extremely confined spaces? Because I can assure you that the majority of children that visit zoos do not read the little paragraph panels of information by each cage, they just stare at the animal. If an adequate zoo should be created, it should focus on the quality and not the numbers. Less cages, larger more environmentally mimicked cages, and it should contain non-endangered species - unless they can properly care and rehabilitate species then they can hold endangered species, and the animal should not live for life in containment, released in the wild after a limited amount of years being kept in containment. After my child years, if I do visit zoos it is to inspire to get them out of those inadequate cages.
Affluenza:
What am I doing to promote sustainability and happiness in life? What would you like to do?
To promote sustainability my diet is green-based, very infrequently do I consume meats of any variation for ethical and rather logical reasons. I am especially aware of products that contain palm oil of any form, and do not consume them - reflecting an early lecture on Orangutans I listened to. I share knowledge on ecological ventures on social media and discuss them with others, who might have an opposite opinion. And I encourage friends and family to lead a green-based lifestyle; local foods, greens, recycling, reusing, and sharing knowledge and environmental opinions with their own group of people. Quite simply my happiness is more than Earth, it is nature - nothing more. I adore and have formed a fundamental bond with the environment, including beyond the boundaries of Earth. My mission statement is to inspire the appreciation of nature.
Zoos:
What role, if any, should zoos play in conservation / education? Is it ethical to keep animals in zoos? If so, what size / type of animal or zoo? Do you enjoy visiting zoos?
Zoos should not be the first solution we conclude for conservation, however that may be, it is still a considerably useful tool especially in the coming years as habitat destruction increases. They should work as the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park did; provide rehabilitation for endangered species and release them once they are in safe numbers and health. And not to the extent that animals believe the zoo is their new environment, but more like a temporary safe house. If zoos were created for educational purposes then their model has certainly failed. We should not extract animals, especially endangered species, from their niche for our own purpose, that is simply unethical. Animals should not be caged in areas that may be over 90 percent smaller than their natural habitat. Because what education does that portray to children? That all animals exist and we can have them, or that animals should live in extremely confined spaces? Because I can assure you that the majority of children that visit zoos do not read the little paragraph panels of information by each cage, they just stare at the animal. If an adequate zoo should be created, it should focus on the quality and not the numbers. Less cages, larger more environmentally mimicked cages, and it should contain non-endangered species - unless they can properly care and rehabilitate species then they can hold endangered species, and the animal should not live for life in containment, released in the wild after a limited amount of years being kept in containment. After my child years, if I do visit zoos it is to inspire to get them out of those inadequate cages.
Affluenza:
What am I doing to promote sustainability and happiness in life? What would you like to do?
To promote sustainability my diet is green-based, very infrequently do I consume meats of any variation for ethical and rather logical reasons. I am especially aware of products that contain palm oil of any form, and do not consume them - reflecting an early lecture on Orangutans I listened to. I share knowledge on ecological ventures on social media and discuss them with others, who might have an opposite opinion. And I encourage friends and family to lead a green-based lifestyle; local foods, greens, recycling, reusing, and sharing knowledge and environmental opinions with their own group of people. Quite simply my happiness is more than Earth, it is nature - nothing more. I adore and have formed a fundamental bond with the environment, including beyond the boundaries of Earth. My mission statement is to inspire the appreciation of nature.
