Food Sustainability
Moriah Wade
Professor Iqbal
ENGL 1302
May 3, 2012
Food Sustainability
Most of the food found in the grocery store is the product of an unsustainable food system. How would you feel if your favorite fruit or vegetable went extinct? The world is beginning to over populate and we are consuming food faster than we’re producing it. Many of the main foundational food sources such as rice and seeds have slipped into endangerment. Healthier food is available now and desirable in the future, but it’s not sustainable. More people need to become aware of the issues of foods becoming endangered so we can prevent extinction of it.
Some scientists argue that there is enough food to support the world population, but critics dispute this, particularly if sustainability is taken into account. Many others say that “global population growth will cause a food, water, and energy crisis by 2030”. (Chapman, Heald) Population growth is the main driving force of agricultural demand. “As world population doubled from 3 billion to 6 billion, daily Calorie consumption in poor countries increased from 1,932 to 2,650, and the percentage of people in those countries who were malnourished fell from 45% to 18%.” (Chapman, Heald) The more people there are the greater amount of food that is needed.
The chart above shows how much fresh foods have declined in the time span of 80 years. In the next 80 years the numbers could become much, much smaller.
Food varieties extinction is happening all over the world—and it 's happening fast. In the United States an estimated 90 percent of our historic fruit and vegetable varieties have vanished. Of the 7,000 apple varieties that were grown in the 1800s, fewer than a hundred remain. In the Philippines thousands of varieties of rice once thrived; now only up to a hundred are grown there. In China 90 percent of the wheat varieties cultivated just a century ago have disappeared. Experts estimate that we have lost more than half of the world 's food
Professor Iqbal
ENGL 1302
May 3, 2012
Food Sustainability
Most of the food found in the grocery store is the product of an unsustainable food system. How would you feel if your favorite fruit or vegetable went extinct? The world is beginning to over populate and we are consuming food faster than we’re producing it. Many of the main foundational food sources such as rice and seeds have slipped into endangerment. Healthier food is available now and desirable in the future, but it’s not sustainable. More people need to become aware of the issues of foods becoming endangered so we can prevent extinction of it.
Some scientists argue that there is enough food to support the world population, but critics dispute this, particularly if sustainability is taken into account. Many others say that “global population growth will cause a food, water, and energy crisis by 2030”. (Chapman, Heald) Population growth is the main driving force of agricultural demand. “As world population doubled from 3 billion to 6 billion, daily Calorie consumption in poor countries increased from 1,932 to 2,650, and the percentage of people in those countries who were malnourished fell from 45% to 18%.” (Chapman, Heald) The more people there are the greater amount of food that is needed.
The chart above shows how much fresh foods have declined in the time span of 80 years. In the next 80 years the numbers could become much, much smaller.
Food varieties extinction is happening all over the world—and it 's happening fast. In the United States an estimated 90 percent of our historic fruit and vegetable varieties have vanished. Of the 7,000 apple varieties that were grown in the 1800s, fewer than a hundred remain. In the Philippines thousands of varieties of rice once thrived; now only up to a hundred are grown there. In China 90 percent of the wheat varieties cultivated just a century ago have disappeared. Experts estimate that we have lost more than half of the world 's food
Bibliography: Heald, Paul J., and Susannah Chapman. "CROP DIVERSITY REPORT CARD FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: DIVERSITY BUST OR DIVERSITY BOOM?" (2009). Web. 3 May 2012. I used this article just to give a little more insight on seed development and storage. Basically this article/journal was to educate myself more on the topic of my paper. Love Food. Digital image. 7 May 2007. Web. 3 May 2012. Siebert, Michael. "Food Ark." National Geographic Magazine. National Geographic Society, July 2011. Web. 01 May 2012. This covers the rapidly dwindling biodiversity in our fields. It states in the summary that to feed our growing population, we’ll need to double food production. Yet crop yields aren’t increasing fast enough, and climate change and new diseases threaten the limited varieties we’ve come to depend on for food. Tomanio, John. Food Variety Tree. Digital image. Rural Advancement Foundation International. Web. 3 May 2012. Twitty, Michael. "Going to the Ends of the Earth to save Food from Extinction." Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., 22 June 2011. Web. 01 May 2012. A summary of Michael Siebert 's article on National Geographic. There are a few more details added into the article and it covers food extinction.