Food and Agriculture

Point Source Pollution Comes from a specific source Can be monitored and controlled by a permit system

Nonpoint Source Pollution Pollution associated with stormwater or runoff Cannot be traced to a direct discharge point such as a wastewater treatment facility

Impervious Surface Roads, rooftops, parking lots, and other hard surfaces that do not allow stormwater to soak into the ground Provides a surface for accumulation of pollutants Inhibits recharge of groundwater

Problems with Desalination High cost Death of marine organisms Brine wastes discharges Future economics

Privatizing Water Neoliberalism World Bank and IMF Can profit-seeking firms deliver?

Food Waste Half of all food in the United States wasted ($100 billion+ annually). US per capita food waste has increased by 50 percent since 1974, to more than 1,400 kcal per person per day. United Kingdom: Roughly 7 million tons—one-third purchased by consumers—discarded annually. –CO 2 equivalent of 18 million tons—an amount equal to one-fifth of total British car fleet emissions. The total amount of food wasted in the United Kingdom from industrial, commercial, and agricultural sources: 94.6 million tons.

Illegal to send food to the landfill. Must separate all food waste and place it in a special 100 percent compostable bag. Country removed over 98 percent of food waste from its MSW stream. That’s the opposite of the United States, where just 2.6 percent of food waste is composed. South Korea

Memory Banking Biocultural diversity Indigenous knowledge in situ vs ex situ

Agrobiodiversity Commercial variety Landraces Crop wild relatives Terminator technology

What are the driving forces underlying the specialization trends in Table 8.1?

Negative Impact of Industrialized Farms Socioeconomic well-being Social fabric Social disruption Goldschmidt thesis Environment

Green Revolution Micronutrient malnutrition –Biofortification Monocultures Bananas –Monovarietal

Treadmills of agriculture Pesticide, fertilizer, and seed

Agroecology Polycultures Organic systems La Via Campesina Landless workers movement Food sovereignty