to repeat it.” If we choose to study the Irish Potato Famine in the mid 1800’s, we see how easily a monoculture can be decimated in an a second and leave a nation starving. The best solution is to hit large companies where it hurts the most. They rely so much on profit that if you allow the smaller businesses an opportunity for growth, the larger businesses will eventually switch from a monoculture to biodiversity. If we take a look into our past, we can see the dangerous
most important new agricultural technique is monoculture, which is the single-species crop. Monoculture refers to the practice of cultivating an agricultural species or tree under conditions where other species are absent or virtually absent. This is done in order to lessen the intensity of competition on growth of the desired crop species. (Freedman) Furthermore, now there are different types of monoculture. Probably the most common one is the monoculture for plantations. It is basically the use of
recently adopted a culture that is centered on money, and it’s this economic culture that has drastically changed the way work, education, and creativity is viewed by society and those who run it—or at least that is what F.S. Michaels argues in “Monoculture: How one story is changing everything.” One of his first arguments is one that focuses on how the enactment of the economic story has altered the mindset companies have towards work and how this mindset has affected the relationship between
Monoculture farming is used in the U.S because is produces lots of food produce for our economy, even though it has its pros, it also has cons.This use of monoculture farming means that only one kind of crop is placed on open land; just like what is done in wheat fields, grape vineyards as well as apple orchards. However, experts are
Effects of Corn Monoculture on Soils: Models for Change in American Agriculture According to writer and environmentalist Vandana Shiva, "the crucial characteristic of monocultures is that they do not merely displace alternatives, they destroy their own basis"(1993, p.50). If the self-destruction of a monoculture is really so simple, it seems that continuous cropping agriculture should long have been abandoned for a more suitable method. Unfortunately, the problem is far more complex. This paper
population growth slowing down and an ever-increasing demand for food, food security is arguably one of the biggest challenges facing the global community today. To meet the current demand, agriculture sectors around the world have implemented the use monoculture, a practice employed to improve farming efficiency and yields, but at time causes damage to the environment. For the purpose of this essay, global food security is a term that refers to the supply of food in a sustainable manner, and its accessibility
Axel Decourtye, a science director in French Institute of beekeeping, fragmentations of habitats, like monoculture, contribute to the loss of bees. It is obvious that a deficiency in quality and quantity of pollen can lead to a decrease in bee populations. With monoculture farming, there is only going to be one bloom period, which leaves a narrow window for bees to collect pollen. Healthy bee populations and profitable beekeeping practices
most of the necessary nutrition required for healthy living and they grew well in nutrient-poor soils. The farmers growing these The appeal to monoculture is its simplicity. Only growing one crop means the growing conditions, maintenance, and harvesting will always be the same, so the process can be standardized. In terms of potatoes, Pollan looks at monoculture through the lens of farmers growing potatoes for McDonalds (Pollan 143). McDonalds requires a specific type of potato that will yield a large
domination, another way for strong countries to take advantage of the weak. When we speak of cultural homogenization, The Starbucks Corporation has become the major contributor. This continued global homogenization of culture threatens to create a "monoculture" that replaces individual, indigenous restaurants and stores with international chains. Th...
Pollan has a few positions regarding the nature that the potato satisfies and its connection to politics, production, and his own personal life. His view regarding the desire that the potato satisfies is compared with the idea of the sublime. Pollan states that the sublime is “mostly a kind of vacation in both a literal and moral sense” (184) and that nature itself is a counter to that. Agriculture can be described as a method of control of nature (in this case, particularly with genetics). Thus
and many more. Yet this report will focus on the monoculture of rubber tree plantations on previous rainforest land. Most of the positive implications of deforestation are for the economy. Rainforest land is cut down and converted into a monoculture rubber plantation, to provide necessary resources for humans, in this case rubber. There are not a lot of positive implications about deforestation and they are mostly overruled by the large
some important health questions. Pollan’s point of view regarding the New Leaf potato is clear; he fears that the New Leaf will become popular among farmers and this will be the only crop they will harvest. This increases our chance of becoming a monoculture and seeing the results in history and talking to current farmers regarding this issue, raises Pollan’s concern. With uncontrollable biological movement such as genetic instability, the probability that the NewLeaf potato will be the only type planted
studied with single cells. Thus, current techniques are being employed to imitate the complexity of the human body by using more than two cell lines combined together. Previous techniques used single cell types, or what is commonly known as a monoculture system to study cellular responses. This is often used for simplicity and for studying single cellular responses rather than cellular interactions. It is useful for studying the general response cells may have under experimental conditions, such
familiar; there is another side of globalization: cultural globalization. In this paper, I will be arguing that the social cultural impact of globalization is good, and it does not result in monoculture. And the opposition is: the social cultural impact of globalization is bad, and it results in monoculture. Before I start my argument, I w... ... middle of paper ... ...ch are forms of communication that are categorized under the term"globalization". Globalization brings all cultures together
drinking Starbucks, eating McDonald’s, and watching Hollywood movies. Globalization, in brief, makes the whole world a small village. Although some people argue that globalization contributes to cultural diversity, there are three reasons why a global monoculture is a more widespread consequence of globalization.
“I’m not comfortable with the term dog, but I will be happy to hold your canine American “Mike Myers as the Cat in the Hat. This satire of political correctness sums up what a joke it has become, but what is political correctness exactly? Political correctness is “the concept based on the belief that speech or behavior that is offensive to various groups’ sensibilities should be eliminated, by means of regulations or penalties if necessary” ” (Political correctness. (2008). In J. Vile, D. Hudson
As earth’s population grows at breakneck pace over the next several decades, who will feed the world’s people? Agriculture has undergone an extensive expansion and transformation throughout the last few centuries beginning with the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s. New technology allowed for better and greater methods of production. The destructive nature of agriculture has recently shown its hand. While our supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants are filled with abundant food options
which is caused from modern agricultural practices, disease, and climate change. Agricultural Practices One aspect that has been hurting bees in America is the modernization of agricultural practices, more specifically the pesticides used, the monocultures implemented, and the habitat loss that takes place. Pesticides Pesticides are a major concern with the issue in America’s agriculture. Farmers use so many of these
GMO variety and goes in great length to figure out the answer to his question. He also contrast the GMO variety with other plants he talks about in his book and how the changing of genes isn't really helping use as a society. He then talks about monocultures and makes some points on how it is good and how it is bad ,but more on how they are bad than good. Michele Pollan's hypothesis on potatoes is one that a lot of people would agree with and some people would disagree with. He talks about how
Locavorism. A relatively new and enormously popular food craze sweeping across the developed world with an emphasis that food grown and produced locally is superior to food produced thousands of miles away. Though locavorism is beneficial in many aspects of our society, for example, promoting more competition between corporations, and locally grown food in developed nations, it could lead to potential disasters among largely impoverished and less developed nations of the world. This issue is not