-
Undernutrition
receiving fewer calories than the minimum dietary energy requirement
-
Malnourishment
- Nutritional imbalance (contrast to Undernourishment = not enough food, but basically balanced)
- caused by:
- lack of specific nutrients in the diet
- inability to absorb or use essential nutrients
-
Obesity
roughly 30 lbs or more overweight; caused by too little exercise and consuming 1/3 calories more than are required per day
-
Kwashiorkor
“displaced child” occurs mainly in children whose diet lacks high quality protein
-
Marasmus
"To Waste Away" - Caused by a diet low in both protein and calories
-
Anemia
caused by Iron deficiency; is the most common dietary deficiency in the world and is most severe in India
-
Iodine deficiency
causes goiter, hyperthyroidism
-
Environmental consequences of the green revolution
- Positive effects: Prevented some deforestation and land conversion
- Preserved biodiversity and ecosystems
- Negative: Pollution, erosion
- Salinization, desertification
- Monocultures decrease biodiversity
-
Food security
the guarantee of an adequate, reliable, and available food supply to all people at all times
-
Pesticides
- poisons that target pest organisms
- Types: insecticides, herbicides, fungicides
- Advantages: save human lives, increase profits, work faster/better than alternatives
- Disadvantages: accelerate development of genetic resistance to pesticides, very little actually reaches target, harmful to humans, some harm to wildlife
-
Pesticide treadmill
chemists increase chemical toxicity to compete with resistant pests
-
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Ecologically based pest-control strategy that integrates use of cultivation practices, biological control and limited use of pesticides
-
Genetic Engineering
- Adding, deleting, or modifying DNA in the lab
- Environmental benefits: reduced use of chemical insecticides, increased no-till farming, decreased irrigation, deforestation, land conversion
- Negatives: increased herbicide use affects health and habitats, some GM fields support less biodiversity
-
GMO
Genetically Modified Organism
-
Recombinant DNA
DNA spliced together from more than one organism
-
Precautionary principle
don’t undertake a new action until the effects of that action are understood
-
The GM debate involves ethics
- People don’t like “tinkering” with the food supply
- Multinational corporations threaten the small farmer
- With increasing use, people are forced to use GM products, or go to special effort to avoid them
- Research is funded by corporations that profit if GM foods are approved for use
- GM crops have not eradicated hunger
- GM crops do not focus on increased nutrition, drought tolerance, etc.
-
The future of GM foods
- Europeans demand that GM foods are labeled
- U.S. consumers have mostly accepted GM crops
- Most don’t realize most food contains GM products
- The U.S. sued the European Union before the World Trade Organization for hindering free trade
-
Our food choices are also energy choices
- Eating meat is far less energy efficient than eating crops
- 90% of energy is lost from one trophic level to the next
- Eating lower on the food chain feeds more people
- Some animals convert grain into meat more efficiently than others
- Feedlot beef is particularly inefficient
-
What leads to feedlot agriculture?
- high consumption
- Feedlots (factory farms) = Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
-
Aquaculture
- raising aquatic organisms in a controlled environment
- Benefits: A reliable protein source, can be sustainable, reduces pressure on overharvested wild fish, energy efficient
- Drawbacks: Diseases require expensive antibiotics, lots of waste, uses grain, escaped GM fish introduce disease or outcompete wild fish
-
Sustainable agriculture
does not deplete soil, pollute water, or decrease genetic diversity
-
Low-input agriculture
uses smaller amounts of pesticide, fertilizers, growth hormones, water, and fossil fuels than industrial agriculture
-
Organic agriculture
- uses no synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides or herbicides
- relies on biological approaches
|
|