Over the past 48 hours I have eaten a variety of different foods. These foods include bananas, roast beef, potatoes, pasta, cheese, bread, cereal, lettuce, pickles, peanut butter, carrots, lettuce, and a variety of Halloween candy. Milk, orange juice, and water have been my main beverages. On a regular basis, I consume a variety of fruit and vegetables as well as bread and milk.
Whenever possible, my family buys locally. Vegetables are either grown in the garden behind the house or purchased at the local farmer’s market. The meat also came from a local butcher shop. Therefore, the environmental
concerns lean towards the energy from fossil fuels used to harvest and provide these products. Energy expended by local produce farmers mostly comes from self-labour. They hand pick the corn, the lettuce, and the carrots or use minimal tools. However, it may have been necessary to use a tiller or garden tractor to prepare the soil. It is often difficult to break up the soil or distribute both natural and man-made fertilizers without the use of a tool larger than a pitch fork. Some gardens are very large in size, and hand-working all of it would be very time consuming.Since the roast was also from a local market, consideration must also be taken regarding the energy consumed to provide the feed and care for the animals. Energy costs to provide the meat are much greater than those costs associated with just produce. Grains have to be grown, harvested, and distributed in large quantities for meat producers. After that, the animals then have to be transported between the farm, the local butcher shop, and then the store. Similar consideration and concerns arise for the bakery. The bread may be made on site, thus not requiring the energy to distribute it, but there are still the requirements of transportation and production of the ingredients to make the bread. These ingredients, such as flour, may have come from a variety of locations.
Overall, products that are not from local markets provide the greatest environmental concern because these goods have a lot of travel and production time. Each step in the process, the growing, harvesting, packaging, and distribution, has varying amounts of energy requirements. This energy is usually provided through the combustion of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels release carbon dioxide and impurities such as nitrogen and sulphur into the air when they are burned. These gases then play a major role in increasing the heating of or our atmosphere which results in global climate change. The processes and systems on our planet are all interconnected, or activities that take place in one area of our environment will inevitably have either direct or indirect effects on other activities. For example, when a crop is removed from a field, the organic matter necessary for the restoration of nutrients in the soil is then no longer available. Hence, nutrient cycles, the organisms that depend on that organic matter for food, and vegetation that will grow the following year will all be negatively affected.
Furthermore, for items purchased in supermarkets, the consumer is unaware of the pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics, and so forth that went into the creation of the products then presented on the shelves. Such substances may provide harmful effects to the consumer through direct consumption and then possible accumulation of this chemical in the body over time. Negative impacts may also arise through the contamination of soil and water around where such substances were applied. Also, the ethics associated with factory farming and over exploitation of the land in some conventional farming practices poses concern for all the animals and environments involved. Sadly, the majority of food production services are not sustainable or environmentally healthy because of their dependence on fossil fuels, a resource which is non-renewable.
Lastly, there is concern for the amount of water used in the production of grains and meat and the processing of the final products. Not all areas are suitable to support crops, and therefore irrigation is introduced to ensure that enough moisture is available for crops to grow. Watering systems must also be developed for livestock when there is not enough water for them to drink. Irrigation often increases the salinity of the soil, thus resulting in many soils becoming too saline for plant growth. This water for irrigation may also have been taken away from people that needed it to drink. A practice that has become very common is to import food products when water is becoming scarce. Importing food is essentially importing water. Meats and grains contain large quantities of water and therefore distribute this resource with them when they are transported from one country to another. Therefore, we must consider not only the final product that we are importing and exporting, but also the amount of water that we are moving in and out of the country through our various food items. The demand for water is rising since droughts and pollution have decreased the amounts of freshwater on the planet.
Picture from:
Wild Alaskan Salmon Company. Upcoming events. [Online]. Avail from: http://www.seabeef.com/images/farmers-market.jpg [2009]
Related Link...
Worldwatch Institute. Making better energy choices. [Online]. Avail from: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/808 [2008]
Affluence + Influenza = Affluenza
When was the last time you went to a shopping mall? Was it yesterday...last week...two months ago? When you were at that mall, did you buy anything or did you just meander through the aisles? For a lot people in society today, they head to shopping centers to hang out with friends, to buy toys and clothing, and, as some might claim, for therapy. Personally, what therapy people receive from entering the loud stampeding crowd of rushing individuals as they seek out the bargain of the day, I will never know.
However, the constant need to buy more, have more, consume more has become an ingrained part of our culture. Everywhere you look, people are spending their money on materialistic items that will eventually end up in the garbage. The latest fashions of clothing change from one season to the next. There are clothes for fall, winter, spring, and summer. With each consecutive year, these trends continue to change. Therefore, in order to keep up with the current trends, people must keep going back to the stores to purchase the new items so that they can remain “in style”. The same idea goes for vehicles, I-pods, houses, and many other gadgets that people buy. Often, these purchases are used as status symbols to make others envious and to show who has the largest expendable income.
The North American society suffers some of the worst effects of affluenza. Companies are continuously promoting their products, and because of, in general, a wealthy society, North Americans have the money to spend on these products. Friends and family members have the latest I-pods, cell phones, and video games. Play Station, Wi, and Guitar Hero are just some of the games that most people insist they can’t do without.
In order to combat affluenza, a person must start in his or her own life. How much do I need that item, or how much do I want it, are questions that they should ask their self before making a purchase. Consideration to the quality of the product, the longevity of it, the packaging, where it was made, and if it can be recycled when it has fulfilled its purpose must be part of the decision making process regarding whether or not to purchase that item. Instead of spending money on small frivolous items, it is often better to save the money and spend it on experiences. Vacation and family times have longer lasting rewards.
On a societal level, affluenza can be reduced through a luxury tax. A tax placed on the items that are not necessary for a person’s happiness and survival would reduce the number of purchases of such items, thus decreasing the amount of materialist purchases. Some may argue that a decrease in spending may harm the economy. If you consider it, however, the economy won’t suffer because people will simply shift their money from one area to another. If the taxes on products increase, then people will spend their money elsewhere, such as on vacation and leisure activities. People genuinely like to spend their money where they can get the most out of it. Hence, areas of the economy surrounding tourism and leisure events will grow. Areas in England already use such a tax, so why can’t North America?
