Content by: EcoHealth101 – www.ecohealth101.org
Posted by: Eco-Question Editor
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Agriculture has changed more in the past five decades than during the previous 10,000 years. These changes have brought many benefits – and heavy costs. Can we sustain our modern ways of growing food?
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Content by: EcoHealth – www.ecohealth101.org
Posted by: Eco-Question Editor
Source: EcoHealth – www.ecohealth101.org
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Scientists can pluck a genetic sequence (one part of a gene) from one species and insert in into the DNA of another species. Will genetic engineering bring abundant harvests and earth-friendly farms? Or will it raise a crop of problems?
Imagine this scenario. You are about to eat a hot, tasty slice of pizza. It’s oozing with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese – and fish. Yes, fish. Not anchovy, but arctic flounder. Where did that come from?
As their name suggests, arctic flounder live in frigid water. The fish have a gene that helps them resist the cold. That gene sounds perfect for tomatoes, which are vulnerable to frosts. That’s where genetic engineering (GE) enters the picture. It’s the transfer of genes from one species to another. Adding the flounder gene to a tomato plant could create frost-resistant tomatoes. But controversy and negative publicity caused the manufacturer to take such tomatoes off the market.
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Content by: EcoHealth – www.ecohealth101.org
Posted by: Eco-Question Editor
Source: EcoHealth – www.ecohealth101.org
Photo Credit: © Uthit Atimana
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To combat insects and other pests, farmers rely more and more on what you might call chemical warfare. Pesticides have won some impressive battles. But our health and environment could wind up as casualties.
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
People have said that for ages. For a long time, they were right. Those apples nestled in the bottom of many lunch bags can be great, low-fat sources of fiber and nutrients. But nowadays, apples (or pears or carrots or radishes…) can sometimes be a source of not-so-great chemicals used on many modern farms.
Those manufactured chemicals fall largely into two groups: pesticides and fertilizers. Use of these substances has skyrocketed since the 1940s. So has our knowledge of their impact. Without even realizing it, many humans and other animals have been getting involuntary overdoses of various agricultural chemicals. Among other effects, this has meant higher cancer rates for humans, and bizarre mutations for fish and amphibians.
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Content by: EcoHealth101 – www.ecohealth101.org
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Irrigation gulps two-thirds of the freshwater we use each year. Good news: Crops thrive where they’d never grow naturally. Bad news: We’re depleting water supplies and damaging soil.
Need to perk up that sandwich in your lunch bag? If you add piece of iceberg lettuce you’ll get a fresh, crisp crunch – and a taste of the complexities of modern farming. That’s because your lettuce probably grew in a desert. (Iceberg doesn’t offer nearly as much nutritional value as other lettuces. Color is key.
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Content by: EcoHealth – www.ecohealth101.org
Posted by: Eco-Question Editor
Source: EcoHealth – www.ecohealth101.org
Photo Credit: © Peter Prokosch, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
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Picture an old red barn. Pigs and chickens romp nearby, while cows graze in green fields. That storybook image delights us. But it belies both the astonishing productivity and the hard-to-stomach conditions of today’s large, industrial-style factory farms.
You can’t wait. Your friends are having a cookout on Saturday, and it’ll be great to relax after a long, test-filled week. Even now, your mouth waters at the thought of that first bite. Your teeth will glide through the perfectly toasted bun, then grab a mouthful of smoky, juicy – chemicals?! Wait…what’s going on?
What’s going on is a revolution in the world of meat production. Worldwide, humans today produce five times as much meat as we did in 1950. As of July 2004, the U.S. alone was home to more than 100 million cattle, 60 million hogs, and 8 billion chickens.
Old MacDonald couldn’t possibly look after all those animals. Instead, modern farm animals frequently live on supersize factory (industrial-style) farms. The shift has meant economic efficiency and higher profits for farmers – and cheaper meat for consumers. Yet this new approach to raising livestock also creates environmental problems and health risks. Indeed, factory farms would barely be profitable if they had to shoulder the true costs of handling the pollution they create.
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Content by: EcoHealth – www.ecohealth101.org
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Seafood provides about 20 percent of the animal protein eaten by Earth’s 6.2 billion people. Overfishing, pollution, and some effects of fish farming threaten this crucial food source.
Seafood is one of the most important and healthy parts of the human diet. Eating fish supplies us with proteins as well as amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids that are essential for healthy tissues. Worldwide, people get twice as much of their animal protein from seafood (fish, shrimp, and shellfish) as they do from beef.
Nearly a billion people, especially in developing countries, rely on fish as their chief source of proteins.
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