In April 1993 Peter D. Moore wrote an article called the Better Cycling in China. The question posed in this study was can farming practices be employed in the area similar to those in an ecosystem despite the prevalence of anthropogenic influence. It was Moore’s stance that ecosystem models could be successful in producing better nutrient cycling in ecosystems despite of human prevalence in an area. The author supported his stance by citing a study conducted by J. Y. Guo, and A. D. Bradshaw on the nutrient and energy cycles in the Chinese farming structure. The specific area studied was in Jiangsu Province, a small village which has previously been self sustaining. In this study the researchers employed different practices in order facilitate a greater preservation of nutrients and a more substantial output of energy to for anthropogenic use. Some of the experimental practices employed in order to achieve the goal was harvesting vegetation such as grasses and feeding the vegetation to fish. They also deepened the fishponds in order to increase sunlight penetration and thus increase the amount of phytoplankton. The increase in depth by 2 meters more than the standard depths caused the phytoplankton to increase to 8.4 tons. In addition, the researchers employed a practice of feeding livestock the vegetation from the bottom of the pond, and using the fecal matter from their pigs as a form of fertilizer. After putting these practices in place, the town also saw an increase in the fish population by 370 percent. By using the manure in order to enrich the soil, the village saw 20 reduction in the money spent to feed the pigs. The combination of all three of the modifications led to a 25 percent increase in the proceeds from ...
... middle of paper ...
...is still being researched and cannot give definitive figures as to the cost benefits. Nutrient cycling when done in a sustainable way is a efficient and proven way to increase crop yields, and sustain larger groups of people without taking from the land. However, I support the ideas of looking at increasing crop yields and nutrient cycling by approaching the different ecosystem services when using ecosystem concepts.
Works Cited
Riccardo Bommarco, David Kleijn, Simon G. Potts, Ecological Intensification: harnessing ecosystem services for food security, Trends in Ecology &
Evolution, Volume 28, Issue 4, April 2013, Pages 230-238, ISSN 0169-
5347, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.10.012.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016953471200273X)
Moore, Peter D. "Better Cycling in China." Nature 362.6423 (1993): 788. Print.
Eutrophication, though it is a complex problem, has prompted people to take steps to decrease the flow of nutrients into the environment through the implementation of better waste water treatment, the education of
Muthyam’s article states, “conventional farming’s dependency on chemical fertilizers destroys topsoil,” (Muthyam 4) and without healthy topsoil we can never produce more antioxidants or carbon. The increased production of these elements could alleviate climate change. The human beings who feel strongly about the climate change issue would be challenged on their “Bt gene” eating habits. Muthyam makes the reader think twice about buying conventional farming products because they are contributing to the problem presented. No one likes to hear about others starving which strikes the reader when they read organic farming can feed masses. The article states “we could feed our entire population through urban agriculture alone” (Muthyam 6). She also refers to the chemicals and synthetic fertilizers as being poison, which gets people double-taking their decisions to consume these conventional products. Consumers of conventional produce wouldn’t consider eating a product if it was directly labeled as
The authors of this article are David Tilman and Jason Hill. David Tilman is a Regents Professor and McKnight Presidential Professor of Ecology at the University of Minnesota. Tilman is interested in “the benefits that society receives from natural and managed ecosystems and in the ways to assure environmental and social sustainability in the face of global increases in human consumption and population.” He has also written many scholarly articles and books on resource and plant competition and on biofuels. Tilman is very knowledgeable in his field of study; therefore, we can most certainly take his word for everything he talks about in this article.
In many lives, change is constantly happening. The economics, cultural values, and social ideals are different today from many years ago. For example, men many years ago rely on literature, libraries, and endless hours of searching for sources in order to make speeches and write stories, and they also had different modes of transportations such as trains. On the other hand, in today’s society, it is easier to find sources and to do research because of the advanced technology, and it is also unchallenging to travel due to the innovations of cars and airplanes. With this being said, it is idealistic that change has a positive impact on society due to the advancement of technology and new methods of transportations, and those changes attribute
Phasing out animal agriculture and replacing it with stronger, safer plant cultivation would greatly reduce pollution released into the environment as animal waste, burning fossil fuels, and contaminated water runoff. The animal waste produced in factory farms is dumped into immense open-air lago...
This is based on the premise that we have technology to save us. We have the potential to increase our crop yields with technology; an example of this was the “green revolution.” The “green revolution” brought about plants that were altered to allow them to be “hypercharged with irrigation water and chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen.” (Manning, 2004, p. 41) This new technology was viewed as a solution to a possible disaster. However, “the green revolution is the worst thing that has ever happened to the planet.” (Manning, 2004, p. 41) This notion is based on the amount of nitrogen that is being applied to crops worldwide. “When farmers dump nitrogen on a crop, much is wasted. It runs into water and soil.” (Manning, 2004, p. 43) The nitrogen runoff collects in rivers and streams until it drains into the ocean. This accumulation of nitrogen causes “artificially large blooms of algae that in growing suck all the oxygen from the water . . . there’s no need to calculate long-term effects, because life in such places has no long term: everything dies immediately.” (Manning, 2004, p. 43) While adding nitrogen to crops does increase production it has a disastrous affect on not only local environment but also worldwide ecology. This is a perfect example of how technology may prevent a collapse but also cause drastic negative effects. These negative effects will compile until we can no longer overcome them and human society will
337). Using statistics, he illustrates how much land is used for agriculture compared with other terrestrial environments. Agriculture occupies a big portion of our environment. This “Agricultural expansion has had tremendous impacts on habitats, biodiversity, carbon storage, and soil conditions. In fact, worldwide agriculture has already cleared or converted...” (Jonathan & Navin, 2011, p. 338) large portions of various thriving ecosystems. Despite that fact productivity is not increasing and “The allocation of crops to non-food uses, including animal feed, seed, bioenergy and other industrial products, affects the amount of food available to the world” (Jonathan & Navin, 2011, p. 338). This allocation occurs more in developed countries. In developing countries the majority of crops are for human consumption. In the developing countries yield gaps occur, these gaps can be filled if the people adopt sustainable methods of producing crops. Once the gaps are filled there will be no reason to expand agriculture further into other
Growing food with Aquaponics is more efficient than growing food the traditional soil garden way. In a typical soil garden, growers end up spending hours of their time doing back breaking work on their garden, but not anymore, with Aquaponics the need for any tilling, digging, or weeding is eliminated. Aquaponics combines Aquaculture (Raising fish in tanks), and Hydroponics (Growing plants without soil). The outcome is a working system that provides plants with all the nutrients they need, while using a minimum of space, effort, water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Aquaponics allows farmers to use up to 90% less water than normal farming would use, so instead of watering your soil and having the majority of your water either lost by run off or evaporated by the sun, the water is recycled repeatedly through the system saving farmers hundreds of dollars on their monthly water bills. Also when growing with Aquaponics, much more food can be produced in a smaller space, in some cases growers have produced around twenty times the amount of produce in the same area a soil garden would. In addition, with the closed, controlled environment of the system, the need for the use of any pesticides a basically eliminated. Finally, Aquaponics enables growers to grow bigger, better and more quality produce.
There are various reasons as to why Enviropigs are beneficial and valuable to society, one of the most prominent reasons being it decreases the deaths of marine wildlife and oxygen pollution. Phosphorus, the chemical which pig cells need to make DNA, build cell membranes and transport and generate energy, is a major cause to the marine wildlife deaths. In the manure of a normal pig, there is a high concentration of phosphorus, which can lead to oxygen “dead zones”, if the waste washes into the ocean. A low concentration of phosphorus is key to clean water. Envi...
In the film, Beijing Bicycle, director Wang Xiaoshuai depicts several themes that are presented in matters of the youth and social issues, including class. Plus, the image that people portray themselves as. Character Guei and Jian are the faces of Beijing 's youth and alludes to the disillusion of migrants from the country. The juxtaposition of Guei and Jian is particularly their contrasting relation to the bicycle, highlights their differences in social standing and status.
Though the implementation of these ideas would help save coral reefs, there are many consequences and obstacles that come with it and it is near impossible to predict if these solutions in combination would be enough to save and reverse the damage already done to coral reefs. A global transition to organic farming would not only take a long time to accomplish, but it would also have negative effects on levels of food production. Organic farming is far less productive than conventional farming, causing it to be a less sustainable food source. Organic farming yields 25 percent fewer crops than conventional farming practices, meaning that a proportionally smaller crop would result in a transition of farming practices (Gilbert). This would cause produce prices on the market to increase as well as an increased amount of land converted for agricultural purposes, which is responsible for a decent amount of land based runoff into the ocean that then hurts coral reefs. Practically, this transition would not be feasible globally and it would not be able to be accomplished as quickly as it would need to be. At the rate that coral reefs are deteriorating at, a more timely solution is needed to slow human influence on coral
This tendency of developed countries to exceed the minimum standard of living combined with the increasing population is steadily depleting nature’s offerings. The nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle, and the water cycle have been disrupted as a result of human activity which is destroying the cycle of life.
From the beginning of this agricultural phenomena, we have been led to believe that factory farms( Also known as CAFOs-Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are supremely efficient. Factory farming began in the 1920’s due to new, industrial farming techniques. Because of new discoveries and methods, crops were now cheaper and easier to produce. Because more grain was available, in turn, more animals could be fed. The factory farming method produced more food and made large corporations more money. (“Factory Farming”) While this may sound like factory farming can only benefit the population, scientists have found the opposite. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture is the chief cause of water pollution and contamination, due to the intense chemicals this industry uses. This exposes farm workers, wildlife, and citizens of the U.S. as a whole to toxic pesticides. These same chemicals degrade soil for future use, and drains our nation’s natural resources by using about 16% of all the energy used in the U.S. (Union of Concerned Scientists) Factory farming lacks sustainability, but also efficiency. Cattle require about 13 pounds of feed to produce just one pound of beef. (Rodale Institute) This fact alone, shows us that factory farming is not advantageous to our society and our
Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals--environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. A variety of philosophies, policies and practices have contributed to these goals. People in many different capacities, from farmers to consumers, have shared this vision and contributed to it.
The philosophy of agriculture to live harmony with nature is deeply rooted in ancient agriculture and still practiced in India, China and the Andes. Organic agriculture reflects this philosophy, but the recent history of concepts such as organic, bio dynamic, natural farming and other related concepts, can be traced back to early in the 20th century. Conventional agriculture differ from organic farming in terms of usage of chemical fertilizers which increase the nutrient of the soil, usage of genetically modified seeds for better crop production as well as the use of antibiotics and hormones in animal farming. In Malaysia, the major agriculture crop productions are rice, fruits and vegetables (including palm oil production). China is in the first ranking for agriculture sector followed by India and United States of America. Since organic farming is practiced by many countries, without further ado, let’s take a look on how it can affect the environment and its implementation.