FOOD AND HARMONY OF THE EARTH BY KAIT SPIELMAKER
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hat do we know about the environmental, social, and economic impacts of global food production and our culture of overconsuming? The way we consume food, along with our sourcing, production, and waste, affects the natural cycles and harmony of the Earth, threatening our livelihood and biodiversity as it contributes immensely to climate change. This isn’t an article advising you to only eat vegan, or to only eat locally grown and organic products. This is an open conversation about where our food comes from, what effects it can have on the environment, addressing food insecurity, looking at inequalities, and what adaptations we can make to better serve ourselves, our community and our planet.
FOOD PRODUCTION AND LAND MANAGEMENT This is one of the largest global sustainability challenges. Years of research show the need to gravitate towards more efficient food production in order to mitigate negative climate impact. In the current system of global conventional farming, food production is proven to be inefficient and contributes
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greenliving | May 2020
acutely to climate change. Further, widespread deforestation and improper land use cause loss of biodiversity and native species, and pollute the water, land and air. Mismanagement and improper use of lands are among the biggest challenges facing our planet. A major catalyst of deforestation in the Amazon is the need to make room for soybean plants to feed livestock all over the globe. Deforestation minimizes the forest’s natural ability to store carbon, releasing CO2 emissions while destroying some of the world’s richest biodiversity. This, paired with poor farming practices, also strips the soil of nutrients and the ability to sequester carbon. Aside from deforestation, there are also concerns stemming from large-scale farming and its reliance on fertilizers containing phosphorus and nitrogen. These fertilizers create higher yields and ensure consistent growth of crops on lands that have been degraded by decades of high-intensity farming. The tradeoff to higher yields is rainwater runoff containing chemicals that will make their way into bodies of water to greenlivingaz.com
