Sustainable Food

No matter where you live or how you live, food is a necessity. Food is staple in every culture and simply put, we cannot live without it. As humans have developed over time, food has become increasingly questionable. What we define as food, such as a hamburger, we may not actually know what is put into this food. We have lost the link between the actual animal or crop to our dinner table. Our quest for fast, easy, and cheap food has created a downward spiral in the meat and crop industries. The valuable nutrients of these foods are being lost in translation. In order to restore this balance, we should revert back to natural, organic foods that our bodies were actually made to digest. All these chemicals and preservatives are not what we were designed to break down. However, saying that we must switch our diets and actually switching our diets are two very different things. It's hard to change set eating habits. I feel though the only way to set our ecosystem back in balance.

Artifact: Pollution

This image depicts smog located in a small town. Pollution can come in many forms, however smog is the most noticed one. The ethical dilemma with pollution is how can we completely stop it, without ending the use of fossil fuels? Even though fossil fuels are harmful to the environment, we depend on them entirely too much to really get rid of them all together. In order to reduce the usage, we must develop renewable resources that do not cause pollution. For example we could switch over to wind power or solar power. Many people do not want to change their ways though. So, pollution remains.

Climate Change Article

Many different terms are used to define this phenomenon such as climate change, global warming, and global change. Climate change refers to a distinct change of climate that lasts for a long period of time. It can effect any number of things. Global warming is an average increase of temperatures near the earth’s surface. Global change is a broad term used to define the global environment. The global temperature has risen 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 100 years. Scientists have been able to link 90% of this issue to human activities releasing more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Scientists predict if we can continue to live the lives we live, we will see a 3-7 degree increase by the year 2100. Climate change and warming affects humans in many ways. Increased frequency and intensity in heat waves are prone to cause many more heat related illnesses or death. Vegetation and forestry are expected to decline due to drought in many areas and increased heat and decreased precipitation.  Events such as floods and droughts are more likely to become more common in increased climates. As stated above, adjusting to such changes is extremely costly and could drive the economy into even deeper turmoil. Fragile ecosystems could be damaged and could cause long lasting affects on almost every ecosystem in the world.