Free Food Resources And Sustainability Research Paper Sample

Sustainability is a term that has been frequently used and applied in several disciplines in a bid to try and explain the ability of systems to continue being productive. In ecology, sustainability is the ability of a biological system to endure and continue being productive in terms of its functions (Britain, 2012). In our world today, sustainability is a factor that is being sought for in everything in order to conserve the natural resources that we currently have with us. Some of those things that we seek for it to be sustainable is the food and the environment for they are the basic requirements for the survival of the human species as well as several other animal species. In other words, the current food system is not currently sustainable and will in fact lead to the suffering of many people.
Most of our food sources are indeed agricultural products considering that the animals are reared in some place and slaughtered for their meat as well as, milked for the dairy. The plants are also grown in several areas such as Texas and then processed into other edible products. The plants also serve as fodder that is used to feed the animals in order to be able get more yields from the animals. The plants that are used for food for the humans are grown under the required conditions that are ideally required by these plants in order to attain a proper yield. The soils are tilled to soften the soils and chemical fertilizers applied to ensure that the plants are healthy enough to harvest them when the time comes. In addition, some plants are grown in green houses where the ideal conditions are applied for a good yield, and tomatoes are usually grown like this.
When talking about the sustainability of the food systems in our country, then we must focus on the source of these foods. The environment that these plants are supposed to be exposed to in order to have a proper growth is no longer present. The practices that our farmers have employed ever since the technology of the world improved are rendering the soils to become totally incapable of growing enough yields. In other words, the mechanisms that are being applied such as chemical fertilizers that are toxic to the plants are accumulating within the soils (Zoebisch, 2006). The tilling methods that the farmers apply to the preparation of the lands for the planting seasons are making the soil structures to be weak to support the heavy yields required to sustain households within the US.
Despite the fact that the soils are ending up being unproductive, it is also good to consider the deterioration of the environment as a result of the industrialization. Ever since the industrial revolution, the world changed for the dump. This is evident because of the deterioration of the environment that is caused by the frequent pollution by the effluents from industries in the form of chemicals and gases. The chemicals accumulate in the water which is in turn used in the irrigation of the plants in dry times of the year by the farmers. The plants end up collecting the chemicals from the soil and so become toxic and inedible, such as the aflatoxins in maize. In addition, the gases that are released into the atmosphere, especially the green house gases like carbon dioxide, are transforming the world into a world that is unfavorable for growth (Mendonca, Cunha & Chakrabarti, 2012).
The climate changes that have resulted as a result from several issues in the world today such as pollution and global warming have led to a traumatic wastage in food resources including the plantations and animals. The climate change in such a scenario basically implies the absence of rains and prevailing of the sunshine to such extents that the water sources such as rivers are affected. The climate changes have further led to the drying up of sources of water that would have served to irrigate the reclaimed pieces of land that were destroyed by dry weather. In addition, the animals die as a result of water absence and this is indeed a tremendous loss depicting itself as wastage. This is because the plantations and the animals that were being nurtured for other purposes end up being destroyed in the climate.
Statistics show that over 2 billion people all over the world are feeding primarily on meat and meat products (Niman, 2014). The rearing of animals to maturity in order to produce the meat that will sustain this large population requires large sections of lands that would otherwise be used for producing plant feeds that is more sustainable. Indeed the meat sources of food is proving to be an unreliable source when depended in as a primary source of nourishment and that puts the whole society at risk of food insecurity. The unsustainable nature of the meat sources are usually faced with challenges that prove to be diehard. These challenges include the ever changing and unreliable weather, especially the dry extremes that lead to starvation of these animals and so their death. Others include diseases and even inadequacy of the food for proper growth.
Another puzzling aspect of food sustainability is wastage which indeed has proven to be the way of the world today. Humes, from his literature in Garbology, clearly states that the aspect of food recycling has made it easier to waste food and other resources (2013). He further adds that the “meandering, inefficient and sometimes purposeless paths for our garbage is not true.”(2013) Indeed Humes has touched on a very key aspect in the sense that wastage has led to the destruction of the environment and the fact that recycling has been implemented everywhere, not everyone is recycling as evidenced by the paths the garbage takes. For instance, a shoe that was tagged travelled a distance of 337 miles to the Columbia Ridge from Seattle garbage. This is the similar way that the foods are being wasted and not recycled even though the theme is being sung all over and this hinders food sustainability a great deal.
On the matter of food processing, the rate at which the sea food is being extracted from the oceans is indeed pushing the environment past its limits. This is attributed to the advances in technology all over the world which makes activities such as fishing to be quite easier. For instance, in Japan, the ships that employ large scale fishing techniques also possess processing facilities within its make up that would in turn can the fish to avoid the spoilage of this fish. This therefore results in the excess fishing that extremely reduces the levels of fish which is a staple source of food for many that depend on the ocean for survival. In addition, these modern fishing techniques sweep the fish from the ocean floors and in turn destroy their homes affecting the sustainability of this source of food. Thus, fish food is an unsustainable source of food for it is being depleted heavily.
In order to save ourselves, then there are several things that need to be done in order to have sustainable food sources and resources. First and foremost, we need to sustain our environment by using clean sources of energy that would reduce the green house gases. For industries, they can chemically destroy the potential effluents and gases that are to be released into the atmosphere. The clean energy sources include solar and hydroelectric power instead of fossil fuels. The level of wastage of the foods needs to be tremendously reduced through application of newer and better processing facilities in food processing industries. In addition, a limit should be set upon the fishing capacities in order to limit the exhaustion of fish food as a resource. In addition supplementary fish sources such as fish farming should be implemented to increase its supply (Lazard et. al, 2010).
In particular, the food resources are indeed going down heavily and it is only a matter of time before food insecurity catches up with us due to depleting food resources. The good news is that these signs of food absence can be counteracted by several methods in order to ensure that there is food for everyone on the American soil. This can be done by improving the environment through the usage of clean energy sources, planting trees and avoiding emission of effluents into the atmosphere. The wastage of food during the processing should be minimized heavily especially by employing better processing facilities that would avoid wastage. Fishing should be limited and other supplementary fish sources need to be initiated to ensure a constant supply of the fish. In a nutshell, the food resources need to be rejuvenated for a better America with enough food for all.

Reference

Great Britain. (2012). Sustainable food: Eleventh report of session 2010-12. London: Stationery Office.
Humes, E. (2013). Garbology: Our dirty love affair with trash. New York: Avery.
Lazard, J., Baruthio, A., Mathé, S., Rey-Valette, H., Chia, E., Clément, O., & René, F. (2010). Aquaculture system diversity and sustainable development: fish farms and their representation. Aquatic Living Resources, 23(2), 187-198. doi:10.1051/alr/2010018
Mendonca, A., Cunha, A., & Chakrabarti, R. (2012). Natural resources, sustainability and humanity: A comprehensive view. Dordrecht: Springer.
Niman, N. H. (2014). Defending beef: The case for sustainable meat production.
Zoebisch, M. (2006). Resource use and agricultural sustainability: risks and consequences of intensive cropping in China. Kassel: Kassel University Press.