Environment vs Food

1. Environment vs Food

2. Myth • To feed the hungry we are pushing production onto marginal land • destroying rainforests • causing erosion • poisoning the environment with pesticides • Cannot feed the hungry and protect the environment

3. Environmental Destruction • 70% of 5.2 billion hectares of ag land is in danger of being turned into desert • Rain forests will be destroyed in 40 years • At current rates • Global pesticide use 4.7 billion tons/yr. • 220,000 die each year from pesticide poisoning Amazon Deforestation (purple) http://whyfiles.org/238earthday/images/brazil_combined.jpg

4. Africa • Traditional agriculture preserved semi-arid land • diverse mix of crops, trees and livestock • 19th century colonists view: • Land is a mine to extract wealth from • Monoculture of export crops without rotation • quickly depleted soil • Peanuts, cotton • Best land for Europeans • worst land for Africans African cotton http://www.hewlett.org/NR/rdonlyres/7C6CC2D1-58A5-4544-B08D-9726E5A35423/0/CottonField.gif

5. Africa • With independence (1960s) • cash crops needed • Low prices encouraged more planting • Livestock displaced to drier lands • increased desertification • Now pastorialism is equated with poverty http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com/files/2007/08/p1.jpg

6. Agriculture in Africa http://go-kids.grolier.com/map?id=mtlr001&pid=go

7. U.S. Soil Destruction • 30% of farmland abandoned since 18th century • Erosion • Salinization • water logging • 1/3 of U.S. topsoil has been lost • 1/2 of U.S. pastureland overgrazed • erodes at high rate • Export boom in 1970s • increased erosion in Corn Belt 39% • in three years Dustbowl 1930s http://www.ehponline.org/members/2002/110-2/dustbowl.jpg

8. Iowa Topsoil Loss • 150 years ago • Iowa topsoil was 12-16” deep • Now is 6-8” deep • Current rate of loss: • 10-15 tons/acre/year http://publications.iowa.gov/1745/1/images/Buffer.jpg

9. Global Soil Degradation http://www.utafoundation.org/soil_loss.jpg

10. Rain Forests • Rainforests 7% of land • 50% of plant and animal species • Source of • Beauty • CO2sink • Pharmaceuticals • Chocolate, cashews, bananas, brazil nuts, cortisone, quinine Amazon rainforest http://www.wwf.org.uk/picturelibrary/jpeg350/ra/rainforest1.jpg

11. Rain Forest Destruction • In 20th century rain forests depleted 50% • At current deforestation rates • rainforests will be totally cleared in 40 years • Amazon is being destroyed at a rate of 20,000 sq miles/year http://www.unep.org/wed/2007/english/Photo_Gallery/WED_2007/Zoom/PA0176629.jpg

12. http://photos.mongabay.com/07/trop_defor_bar-600.jpg

13. Rondonia, Brazil • 1980s displaced poor farmers flooded Amazon region • slashed and burned to clear land, plant crops • Swiden agriculture • Displaced indigenous peoples • Most failed after few seasons when land exhausted • Cattle ranchers then moved onto land • 1990s: Cattle, Soybeans, Logging destroy forest http://www.css.cornell.edu/ecf3/Web/new/AF/pics/SlashBurn7.jpg

14. Slash and burn agriculture • Rainforest: • rain leaches nutrients from soil • except those captured by plants • Forest burned • Ashes rich in nutrients • Serves as mineral fertilizer • Farming possible • for a few years • Then soil exhausted • Land often used for pasture • Cattle ranching Slash and burn maize, Peru http://www.mongabay.com/images/peru/tambopata/Tambopata_1030_5148.JPG

15. Rainforests of the World http://www.d.umn.edu/~pask0020/educ5413/mywebquest/Rainforest%20map.jpg

16. Deforestation: Bolivia • 80% clearing carried out by large land holders • for cattle, soybeans • 20% cleared by small farmers • Thus most of clearing is not to feed hungry http://www.boliviabella.com/images/bolivia_facts_geography_amazon_deforestation.jpg

17. Deforestation: Central America • Most of the tropical rain forest has been affected by: • Logging • Banana Plantations • Cattle Ranching

18. Deforestation: Indonesia • 1997-8 tropical fires created huge smoke cloud • thousands of square miles • Fires blamed on poor • clearing land • Actually, most from • Logging • plantations http://www.rssgmbh.de/img/projekte/projekte_international/ssffmp3.jpg

19. Pesticides • 4.7 billion tons pesticides used worldwide • 2 billion pounds in U.S. • 25% in California • Fruits and vegetables • 30% U.S. use for corn, wheat. • 25% U.S. usein golf courses and lawns • Pesticide poisoning in U.S. • 300,000 farmworkers/ yr California lettuce http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/relevance/images/pestspray.jpg

20. US Geological Survey 1997

21. Pesticides in Developing Countries • The most harmful pesticides • are banned in U.S. • Used, made in developing countries • Without much protection to workers • Used for export fruit, vegetables • About 50% used for appearances • Not used for staple crops in developing countries • Expensive • Mixed cropping of staple crops less susceptible

22. Pesticides in Developing Countries • Protection for workers low • Regulations lax • Toxicity education poor Mexican girl drinking from pesticide container

23. Pesticides • Despite 10x increase in toxicity • crop losses have doubled from insect pests • 0.1% pesticides reaches pests. • Rest into environment

24. Pesticide Treadmill • Central America increased cotton production • between 1945-1970 • Boom displaced small scale food producers • resulting in unrest, violence • Boom made possible by pesticide spraying • for Boll Weevil • At first, sprayed only few times/season • Insects develop resistance to insecticide • Requires spraying more http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/cleansweep-pesticides/images/Image5.jpg

25. Pesticide Treadmill • By mid-1960s were spraying 10 times/season • Pesticides killed natural insect predators • Eventually spraying 40 times/season • costing 50% of production • Cost too high, leading to Bust • Now wasted, eroded soils • ghost towns • Cotton boom- bust increased hunger • left economic ruin • environmental devastation http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/non-toxiccotton/images/cotton.jpg