Food Miles is how far the food travels from its production location to the consumer’s location, the less distance that the food has travelled are a better choice for the environment and the consumer’s health. Buying food locally reduces the food miles on the food and growing food can help reduce the food miles. Growing food in the backyard helps reduce the food miles on the food a lot since the food only travels from your backyard to your house. The effects of food miles are measured in the amount of pollution it has caused during the travel to the consumer. (Food Miles, 2013; Eco Friendly Food, 2010)
Each person has their own Carbon Footprint, everyone burns Carbon Dioxide which is considered their Carbon Footprint. Carbon Dioxide is burnt by using anything that consumes oil, gas, coal and electricity. Carbon Footprint produced by humans are increasing every year which leads to global warming, as this happens the sea level rises and the planets temperature increases. The earth now has 7 billion people and is going to rise dramatically in the next 2 years, this means there will be more people burning Carbon Dioxide which will make global warming occur much faster. Global Warming makes a great impact to the environment and future generations because the world will become hotter causing us to not be able to grow some plants grown in this generation. (Paul Lawton, 2012; Time for Change, 2007; Alyssa Morse, 2013)
Buying foods in season is cheaper since the food grows locally and there are many farmers growing and selling this type of food. The foods that are grown locally in season generally taste better than imported food. When foods are transported they must be harvested early and refrigerated to make sure it doesn’t rot, during transportation they may not ripen effectively compared to how they would in their natural environment, this causes the food to not develop their full flavour. Foods that are shipped and refrigerated lose flavour every step of the way but fresh, locally grown and harvested foods will have their full flavours. Buying locally and in season are better for health since some foods require preservatives (such as wax) and irradiation (zapping the food with a burst of radiation to kill germs). (Green Living, 2012; Michele Morris, 2012)
A variety of living things is a biodiversity, different plants, animals and micro-organisms create this biodiversity. There are three main categories of biodiversity – genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity.
...led an average of 1,518 miles (about 2,400 kilometers). By contrast, locally sourced food traveled an average of just 44.6 miles (72 kilometers) to Iowa markets. (DeWeerdt)” This is not only bad for the environment with all the food being transported all around the world causing pollution, it also does not support the local growing gardeners. When people buy locally grown produce it helps the community out because of the taxes made from the produce they buy.
When people burn fossil fuels to accumulate and produce energy a substance called carbon is produced. Carbon is released into the air in a form known as carbon dioxide. Carbon moves throughout the biosphere on the planet as it is recycled and reused. Carbon exists in the earth’s atmosphere in two common forms which are methane and carbon monoxide. These gases absorb and retain heat in a process known as the greenhouse effect. The Planets natural greenhouse effect makes life possible by regulating our temperature. It turns out that adding too much to the greenhouse effect can have horrible consequences on the environment. Each year, five and a half billion tons of carbon is released by burning fossil fuels and of that three billion tons enters the atmosphere. The remaining carbon usually gets absorbed by the oceans.
My starting point for this paper was the movie Food Inc. directed by Robert Kenner. Although the film’s main purpose was to expose how detrimental today’s food industry is to our health, at the same time I found myself wondering how the food industry and our diets affect the environment. The film mentions how the meat industry takes heavy tolls on the environment because of the land that must be devoted in order to raise livestock—both to grow the food for the animals to eat and to provide a place for the animals to reside. The film also mentions how there are only 4 or 5 major crops that are grown in America—including corn, wheat, and soybean, which are used a lot for animal feed—which decreases America’s biodiversity (Food). All of these things led me to pursue the question: how does our consumption of animal products affect the environment?
There is no hesitation when it comes to whether humans impact the global environment. However, it is questioned in whether human’s ecological footprint is either negatively or positively impacting. In clear perspective, humans share from both sides and their ecological footprint is noted towards whether it will benefit or harm the environment around them. Topics such as overpopulation, pollution, biomagnification, and deforestation are all human impacted and can harm the environment, but some include benefits into helping the world around us with solutions to their problems.
Carbon footprints: “the total amount of greenhouse gasses produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of CO2(carbon dioxide)” (n.d, 2007).
Presumably, people can have a big impact on the world around them. The goods they consume or put out into the atmosphere can be harmful to the Earth and cause the climate patterns to change. “Oil provides 40 to 43 percent of all energy used by the world. Oil and coal each account for 40 percent of global warming emissions from fossil fuels worldwide. In the United States, energy use accounts for 82 percent of our global warming emissions, with oil counting for 42 percent of those emissions” (The Price of Oil). Our consumption of energy is helpful yes, but it also has a negative impact on our environment when used in large quantities. Another negative contributor of greenhouse gas emissions is vehicles.
One of the biggest controversies with livestock production is that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that get released into the atmosphere. Its assumed that cars produce most if not all the greenhouse gas emissions however livestock has a big say in air pollution. According to Cassandra Brooks, writer for the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, 18 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions are due to livestock production. This is nearly 20% and can be greatly reduced if people reduced their demand for meat. The Environmental Working Group used a tangible variable for Americans stating “if everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, it would be like not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million cars off the road” (Goffman 9). Instead of taking the bus to work, switching your diet around could make just as much of an impact on the environment.
Trends of moving toward supporting local food producers have increased over the years. People are looking for quality over quantity. “With the explosion of interest in local food, consumers now have more choices of products, labels, and ways to shop, so, many people are left wondering where to start” (Table, 2009). Buying locally supports sustainable food system, beyond just methods of food production and helps to increase food from farm to plate. Supporting locally drastically helps with the reduction of emissions and the negative effect that food traveling has on our environment.
With the world’s population continuing to increase, the demand for food is higher than ever. This increase in food demand also calls for more efficient ways of growing and providing the food. Two methods that are very controversial are the organic and conventional method. While many people support the organic method because of its known benefits, others feel that it is an over inflated industry that cheats consumers out of their money. But recently many studies have disproved those critics. These studies prove that Organic food is a better choice than conventional because it is better for the environment, avoids the use of chemicals, and is generally more beneficial.
Carbon footprint can be defined as the amount of greenhouse gases an individual produces at a time through diverse activities. A person’s carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which were induced by an individual’s daily activities for a given time frame. CO2 is one of the many greenhouse gases that are responsible for causing global warming which we are currently experiencing today. Carbon footprint is an extremely powerful tool which we can utilize to understand the impact that our personal activities have on global warming.
Humans have been guilty for this great change that our planet is suffering. Humans are responsible for the increase of the temperature, for increase of the oceans levels, and for the extinction of some animals. Joseph DiMento affirms in the article “Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren” that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change affirmed that there is a strong evidence that humans have had a great impact on the global climate (65). Humans’ activities all around the world have destroyed a lot of important ecosystems such as the Amazon. The over population is affecting many ecosystems. As the population grows, we need more space because we are occupying at home to many animal species. Peter Singer mentions in his book “Practical Ethics” “…the discovery that human activities are changing the climate of our planet has brought with it knowledge of new ways in which we can harm one another” (216). Industries have more impact on climate change. Industries as oil industries release many issues in the atmosphere affecting the ozone layer. These issues are the ones that are warming up planet and destroying ecosystems. Also these oil industries throw so many waste materials away to rivers, lakes, oceans that are affecting the water and life of those places. Healey Justin mentions in her article “Climate
Humans and animals breathe out Carbon Dioxide, often referred to as the greenhouse gas, as a waste product. Plants take in this CO2 and use it to make food. This is called photosynthesis. During this process oxygen is released which is then breathed in by humans and animals. This procedure is repeated over and over and a natural balance is obtained. However this natural balance is disrupted by human activity. People of the world are putting more than 5.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. 75% of this is caused from the burning of fossil fuels. These fuels are burnt all the time to run factories, power plants and vehicles. The main sources of CO2 emissions are electric utilities, residential buildings, industry and transportation. The other 25% is induced by the destruction of the world's forests. The reason for this is that there are less trees and plants to take in the CO2 but there is just as many, if not more, humans and animals to breathe it out.
In talking about global warming, we need to learn what causes the greenhouse effect. Rays from the sun are taken up and absorbed by water vapor that is natural in the atmosphere. The United States emits the largest man made greenhouse gases in the world. As Americans we must realize the responsibility to reduce the emissions. (Gore, Albert) Water Vapor is eighty percent of greenhouse warming. The last twenty percent results from other gases that are in very little amounts. A huge absorber of the sun’s heat rays is carbon dioxide. Us as humans release a lot of carbon dioxide. When fossil fuels are burned, they release big amounts of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is on the increase in our atmosphere due to car emissions. Approximately eighty percent of CO2 increases because of man’s use of fossil fuels. When there is more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere the more sun rays are absorbed. In result to this happening this will cause the earth and the earths atmosphere to warm. When the earth is warming, water temperatures will start to get warmer. Oceans and lakes will get warmer in result f...
Not only are human beings affected but also animals and plants. Air pollution might be most noticeable around our congested towns but the thin layer of air that envelops the Earth is polluted at several balances. It is contaminated indoors, locally, regionally, and globally. Smog sagging over cities is the most familiar and obvious form of air pollution. But there are different kinds of pollution some noticeable, some invisible that contribute to global warming. Normally some element that people present into the atmosphere that has harmful effects on humans and animals and the environment is known as air pollution.(Sarah
Transportation sectors like cars, airplanes, motorcycles, and equipment with engines produce carbon dioxide which affects the atmosphere. The number one contributor of carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere is fossil fuels. According to the World Watch Institute, humans has increased the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere. The increases rate of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is around 3.8 yearly (Global Fossil Fuel Consumption Surges). According to an UN report, humans have had an influence on climate change and global warming since the mid- twentieth century. Scientists concluded in the report that the increase of gas emissions is one of the main priority causes of climate change. With that conclusion, they predict the probability of mankind producing climate change is from 95 to 100 percent (UNRIC). Meanwhile nature changes on earth at a steady pace, the heat trapping emissions, also known as greenhouse gases, increasing which causes warming up on the earth as year’s progress. The increase of the greenhouse gases may cause human civilization to experienced hot temperature never