As time goes on, we as a species are faced with a harsh yet very important dilema, and that is our lack of resources for an ever-growing human population. With so many contributing factors, it is no wonder why people are starting to take notice, and concern. This, in and of itself gives the hope that humanity can fix this issue with an answer we now already have, such as by being friendlier to the enviornment, and attempting to aid in world wide food shortages. It is true, that eventually our planet will proove to have a cap level for the number of human beings, but to be honest, I belive that by the time that comes to be, humanity will have taken the necessary steps to provide resources efficiently, and perhaps control population with an idea that seems "out of this world" with ideas as far as space colonization by humans. Time is our only way to know.
Humanity can no longer afford to keep living the way we are today. I believe that many of the things affecting the earth is naturally cause. But there is no doubt in my mind that the most of it is anthropogenic caused. Agriculture is one of the main factors for greenhouse gases that is inevitably damaging the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases is a contributor to the climate change, which brings us back to all the natural disaster occurring such as flooding and weather changing and so on. This sequence unfortunately affects the rate of food productivity as well as the cost. I feel that with the right education to developed and underdeveloped country can make a difference. Taking approaches that can make a difference to the earth. Eventually can stabilize the food productivity and the cost of it.
It seems to me that this problem is trapped in an infinity loop. The world population rises well past planetary sustainability and people suffer. Demand causes food prices to rise and the poor starve. To bring down prices we would have to grow more food, but then the planet suffers as a result to pollution. Since starvation and malnutrition are forms of intense suffering, euthanasia can cut down on the excess population problem, but how many people would find peace in the ethical dilemmas it represents? Is it ethical to allow people to live only to starve to death? Is it ethical to take food from the mouth of an elderly person to feed a starving infant? Another way to cut down on excess population is war. It does seem that the world does not need help in this department. Constant conflict already decimates populations the world over. It may be unethical, but for each life lost on a battlefield, there is one less mouth to feed. Less hungry people, less demand, prices go down. Of course I am not serious with these solutions. I merely wanted to point out that there are no easy answers to this problem outside of reevaluating the current systems that govern the world. These solutions work within the system, never questioning the values of that system. The rules of capitalism govern the price of food. Supply and demand. They also are the chief forces responsible for a nation’s financial well being. A poor country equals an undereducated populous, and so on. Roll these together (along with a generous helping of religious doctrine demanding childbirth) and you get a downward spiral for civilization. Unless the very ways that humans use to manage the world are questioned, the only solutions left are outrageous ones that leave the larger problem intact. Two final questions: Knowing the food supply/cost problem how ethical is it for a single person, a CEO for example, to make millions and millions of dollars for personal use only? On a smaller scale, is it ethical to spend hundreds on a piece of clothing?
Natural disasters as we call it, are mostly caused by humans themselves! If we don’t stop the pollution , wasting water, littering, cutting down trees , nature will eventually try to restore order and by doing so many human vitalities will be taken like food , water, and many others. Therefore, food industries raise the price because food is a necessity and since it gets more expense for them to produce they have to make a profit somehow. Also the world population increases every year which means more people need to be fed. China is one of the most populated countries in the world and also the most developing one, but they have tried to decrease human reproduction due to food crises and many others. However, there still are the crises of food production and human reproduction, which seem to be a bit problematic to control. In America food is been wasted all the time, instead of regulating human reproduction we should advertise how to decrease the amount of food we consume and throw away every day. In my opinion there will be more to come if we , humans keep living the way we do.
I believe this problem is one of many issues we face in society today. Deforestation, global warming, and rising costs of fuel contribute to many concerns we face. If we haven’t changed our approach to lower our carbon footprint , then how can we ask for a lower costs in food? I am a strong believer in the fac t that our worlds natural disasters are enhanced by our irresponsible and inefficient way of living. The Greenhouse gases is contribute to climate change; an unnatural way of changing the climate only causes more harm than good. Along with the climate changes, come poor cultivation from reliable crops furthermore incapacitating our yearning for global nutrition. One point, I will add that can cause eyebrows to raise is the fact that sub-saharan areas of Africa are experiencing famine not only to loss of crops, and high costs in food but primarily to the plunging economy in the area. A healthy economy is necessary to ensure all the countries matters follow through easily. Unfortunately, Africa is a very poor country and lack resources to further their productivity. A systematic approach is necessary to fix the issues at hand. China has one of the largest populations per country in the world. Matter of fact, If the entire population of China walked by you single file, the line would never end because of the rate of productivity. That being said, the Chinese are quite innovative when it comes to resourcing food. They always make something out of nothing and really get their bang for their buck from the foods they purchase. In America, we are gluttonous, wasteful, and oblivious to current world issues and continue increasing our carbon footprint without regards for our natural resources. Unfortunately, I do not see a remedy to this problem unless America lowers their high head and agrees to help the world together to executively plan a plan to lower the costs of food and provide assistance to crops in famished areas. That way, we can all live in harmony. Alexandra Cruz
A country without sufficient natural resources to generate products will have a difficult time. Not all the countries are facing the same problem ,because it is possible for a country to have an abundance of natural resources and still be unable to make use of them, for example Haiti because of technological, and organizational backwardness , selfishness ,and lack of imagination,creativity,and political stability. WE also should not forget that the world population has risen from 250 million to 500 million. Nevertheless it is expected to reach 11 billion in 2100. Have we taken time to ask our self what life will look like by that time. We are worried for now what about tomorrow? And as the future generation that we are representing what are we going to do as respect to that, to that explosion? Not only has the growth of the population had an impact on the depletion of energy supplies, minerals and topsoil. A lot of people for a reason or another are escaping from their country to another because of need and desperation .while we are outnumber of people for cultivation, offices job are numbered of them on the waiting list. Because of lack of job, life expenses are worsened. Since everything are auto robotic we are having less and less job for us human .Will we let’s these Robot take over us? will we seat and watch the future o our kids ? Emmie
As time goes on it seems as if the entire Earth will become one huge Easter Island. We seem to be bruning through our resources faster than they can be produced. It can easily be seen by the spike in prices at the grocery stores, a pack of chicken used to cost about $3.00 and now they are anywhere from $8 to $15 depending on where you shop. The population increase doesn't help the situation at all. The major question is can we do anything to fix the problem before it is way to late? Many great minds are trying to find an answer to this problem. I personally think that we will eventually find the answer but alot of things have to happen in order for it to work. For one the fact of poverty in many countries including our own, there are way to many benefits to people that have money and none of them apply to those without. The rise in prices are one of the biggest problem for people in poverty, they can't afford to keep up with these constant price spikes. I unfortunatly do not have the answer to what can be done, but if we can invent computers with artificial intellegence I am sure something can be done about the food shortage.
As you know time is infinite, but resources are not. The human population seems to be on the rise which means we'll need to provide our future generation with food, shelter, etc... But what if they have nothing to look forward to except a wasteland void of resources. One solution I can think of is to get back to our farming roots and lend a hand to our starving neighboring countries. We shouldn't be using food as fuel for our daily lives. Another solution could arise from giving back what you put into the environment (the good kind). In the end it's the least we can do to make sure that not only us but our future children who will one day inherit what's left of this earth.
The reason our food prices continue to go up it's because we are using alot and conserving less.In addition, our population continues to grow and the is more demand for supply is the more we use. The Greenhouse gases is contribute to climate change; an unnatural way of changing the climate only causes more harm than good. Along with the climate changes, come poor cultivation from reliable crops furthermore incapacitating our yearning for global nutrition. We need to take better care of our planet and filter the resources we have because sooner or later its going to come to an end. Raising the prices won't change anything but the rate of poverty because as we buy and save less we are self destructing humanity.
It's quite unsettling to hear facts such as Americans eat nearly nine times more than sub-Saharan Africans. I think that it is our duty as human beings to maintain the planet we inhabit. Over population is a main key factor in the increase in food prices and it has major affects on the environment. We are using all our resources up at a faster rate than the planet can replenish them. Green house gases are ever increasing and having dramatic effects on our climate including droughts and floods. This causes many lives to be taken and it's almost as if the planet knows its over populated and it's naturally trying to fix the problem. To be sustainable is incredibly important and human beings have not yet mastered it. I feel Earth is trying to find a cure itself to keep living. Without this planet we have nothing and people are so forgetful and wasteful. We need to become more aware of all our actions and how they play a major role in the environment.
If in Sub-Saharan Africa people it nine times less than what we call normal eating in America, then we must first define normal. Because it’s becoming normal for most of American to become obese and also younger generations are consuming more food; causing a health risk to themselves, and not to mention additional medical cost. America is considered a country of freedom but if we can reeducate human species on how to eat to maintain a well balance life. Then we can stop obesity here in this country and help others, for example in Africa to have a higher percentage of food intakes. Another possible solution is growing your own garden; naturally. It’s a nice hobby and one can control the ingredient’s that go into producing; beautiful vegetables and fruits. Brighitie
If it is true that a person in Africa eats nine times less than someone in America, then we don’t really have a problem of scarcity, instead we have a problem of epidemically selfishness nature. The most logical solution would be to adapt a “communist” way of thinking; In America many of us throws away food simply because we “don’t like them”, then if we can afford to do that why not put those cans of asparagus you hate into donations centers. I’m certain that if people in America and for the matter on any country would help even on a small way, then world hunger would not be a current issue. The problem is not “from where will we get more food supply?” the supply is there alright; however, what the problem seems is to be is “how could we equally distribute it?”. Remember that the smallest changes makes the biggest differences.
The demographic explosion, the increase in food prices and our planet‘s sustainability are three related topics when it comes to think over the human existence. The diversity of the world considered in its whole makes it difficult to comment about this kind of subject because this is a complex situation where every nation has different interest to defend. The fact that overpopulation can cause inflation, which can directly affect the price of our food, it automatically threatens the way our environment is evolving. However, Can we all do something to reduce the damages? Knowing that we all will pay the price can help us act in a way to sustain life on earth by being a responsible human being no matter of who one is and what one is doing. So, self-motivation and empathy are two keys in finding means to favor a better condition of life.
Food has always been a subject of scarcity. Most of the modern world today arguably obtains their food from supermarkets. People should plant more gardens and not rely so much on wasteful corporations and chemically laced foods. This would certainly make a difference not only in our bodily health but also the health of our planet. It may save us money and isn't at all that hard to do. Much of the problem of scarcity also stems fundamentally from people's greed, laziness, and selfishness. In reality, though there are infinite wants and limited resources, we actually have plenty of resources in this world--many renewable or potentially renewable. Unfortunately it is against the grain of nature for humans to show restraint and selflessness as much as they will desire things. I think the bigger picture--though it is difficult to capture now in the present--is that we will really need to find a way to get a grip on some form of sustainable energy. Sustainable energy is connected a new generation of scientists and the schools that teach them. With less money going towards fossil fuels, what is saved can feed into future cycle of investments to feed the world.
It is not something new for us to hear about hunger, poverty and misery in different places around this planet, I think it has been like this since the beginning of the existence of humans. A perfect world where everybody is happy is a utopia that many have already tried and it has proven not to work, mostly because it is in our nature to be competitive, and it is in the law of evolution for the weak not to survive. Although this is a reality, we need to admit that this is a sad reality because many of the humans suffering are children who have no fault. In this case, to the question regarding whether we can do something or not I would say that of course we can. But the arising question would be do we really want to? Our hearts all soften when we see commercials talking about poor children who do not have food or clothes to wear on, but when the child is near, most people tend to look somewhere else. Is this fair? Well, it’s not our obligation to help others because to be honest, most people would not help you if it was you, but it should be in our desire to do the best to others who need it. What’s the solution? Give them something to eat, but at the same time, give them an education that can allow them to learn how to earn food by themselves. Education once again is the key to success. I do not believe we should buy fewer groceries or just feel bad because we are eating them. We work hard to earn that right, what we should do is to help others to learn how to earn it too. Also, it is true that our resources are limited but as we have seen in history, our imagination and creativity when it comes to developing new techniques for getting more out of this limited amount of resources is limitless. For this reason, I think the best way to help those who need it, is, in our personal case as students, to study hard and educate ourselves so that we could later on, as professionals, be the creators of new ways to deal with scarcity and that way help those who need it.
With the world’s population skyrocketing and our resources declining at a high rate we are in desperate need of a change in the way we do business. Till now we have consumed and consumed without regard for those who have nothing. Statistics show that we are currently in a position to adequately feed every human on this planet, however our materialistic way of life supplies those who want with everything and leaves those who need with nothing. If we were to change our lifestyle and begin to care about our neighboring countries the world can recover from this dire state of emergency and the hungry will be no more. The unequal distribution of food is atrocious, and our ecosystem cannot bare the weight of our lifestyles much longer. -David Salinas
Well, the only way to really fix this problem would be to start distributing food to every country equally. In other words, the trade of food needs to be balanced because right now it definitely isn't. Why should half of the world starve and the other half have enough food, which gets thrown away by those who do not need it. I never understood why one country can be poor and another rich...food production can only be increased if it is distributed well amongst the other nations. There is really no reason for anyone in the world to be dying or starving from not being able to eat! It just makes no sense. I know it would be great challenge to fix this problem, but the only way to fix it is to start taking some real action towards the food production system. I think that one way to fix this problem would be to grow crops in area where there is lots of land. This would add to the production of food and that could be used to feed those in need.
Here is one of the several alternatives of solutions to this problem. Governments from developing countries need to assist producers with research, technical assistance, financing and better road infrastructure to improve the flow of the country’s production. Research will determine and encourage farmers to use other varieties of seeds that can be more adaptable and resistant to extreme conditions. Professional support will show producers better alternatives to control pests, use irrigation systems, diversify their crops and monitor the development of their harvest. All these will ensure the ability to employ less scarce resources, increase productivity and have enough crops during scarcity or bad weather conditions. Even though developing countries claim that they don’t have enough funds to help their farmers, they can work with donations that develop countries give them or make financial treaties with other ally countries to guarantee local production and international exchange. Without money, farmers lack their opportunities to acquire better machineries, equipments, human resources, fertilizers and pesticides that are essential for an optimal and affordable production. Farmers need to have good road infrastructure to introduce harvesting materials to their fields and to distribute their products to market areas. Without this, producers battle with time, spoilage and pilferage when they are transporting perishable and non- perishable products. These weaken their ability to compete with other markets because their products don’t meet good agricultural practices. It also causes economic, financial and production disadvantages to the country and the agricultural sector. All these can be possible if the government of developing countries and producers work together to ensure a sustainable production, and only if these governments invest their funds efficiently in the agricultural sector without corruption which is another main problem in these developing countries.
The number of problems the world is facing is overwhelming; nevertheless, I believe that any solution starts with the awareness and the recognition of those problems. Brazil and the Amazon: as Brazil becomes a developed nation, the greater is their power and the stronger is the voice that rises against the deforestation. Hunger and poverty can only be fought if the world fights against corruption. The issue of hunger haunts our every day lives and it seems to me that as everyone criticizes the USA by exposing the way the food is wasted in this country and so on, the majority does not realize that it is here that there is the most discernment and conscientiousness about such problems. My life experience has taken me to very contrasting parts of the world from Nigeria to Norway, Monaco… and I was born in Brazil. Since I came to Miami, to Wolfson, I have been more aware of the problems in the world, for the first time in my life I saw a country come to help to International Students, immigrants, under privileged just to give education, to change people’s lives. In this world I have seen hunger and corruption, which, for me is one of the major problems of underdeveloped countries, one of the main reasons why food or help does not reach people in need. In my opinion, and from what I have seen, my hope lies in the hands of specialists in economic development like the Professors my daughter has introduced me to: Dr. Edward Miguel, Professor of Economic Development at UC Berkeley who wrote Economic Gangsters with Dr.Raymond Fisman from Columbia University. They speak about the misappropriation of foreign aid money and corruption. When I hear them, I know they are looking at things that no one looked at before and I know the solution for hunger and world poverty lies in the hands of people like them. There is hope. http://zocalopublicsquare.org/zocalo_video_podcasts/media/zocalo_081028.mp Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia Uni..www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEJCWQZvTCM All this is happening in America. A revolution in which Professors like you, Professor Triff, plant their seed, in every class. I feel privileged to be here and I want to be part of all of this.
As we all know the world seems to come to an end. Little by little we see how we are hardly getting any type of rain or if not the soil is bad and everything is getting flooded. This all leads us to all the tragedies going around and not helping the situation. With all this happening, what we do is try to buy food from other countries, as we normally do, but they get more expensive and less affordable. As this happens there are other countries that are leaving their land dry to try to sell the last item they can, but at the end they leave children hungry and make matters worse. In retrospect, this all comes back to a circle if we think about it. We are always trying to succeed in one part, but fail on the other and we never care who we leave behind. Just as long as it’s not us. That’s why we are how we are in this world.
I believe there should be a universal law that permits a family from having more than two children. There must a restriction/hold on how much reproduction is being allowed. The earth cannot sustain this current population and in a few years doubling, I wonder what the world will look like then. People need to just stop reproducing for a few years so the earth can have some time to regenerate at least a little. Then, the universal prices should drastically decrease for some time as well because for example the people in African and other undeveloped countries cannot afford as much food as they actually need. Finally, there should be an organization that is strictly in charge of making sure that everywhere and everyone in the world has access to food and shelter. -Leandro Lescailles
I believe that we as a planet need to help the less fortunate countries that have been affected by bad weather. Helping out countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Argentina just to name a few could help out our lack of food production. When I mean that we should give these countries some aid, I don’t mean that we should just giving them a certain amount of money and hope that they use the money for good and not bad. No I believe that we should help them out on the educational level. We should teach the farmers the right way to grow their crops by not using all these different kinds of chemicals that sure can help out grow your crops faster or could get you a chicken to by double the size in half the time, but at the end of the day is harmful for us to eat.
What is happening now in the increase of the world population against the high price in food production is a big concern in the sense that we, as humans are responsible of our own destruction. However, I don't think it is something we cannot overcome because we have always been facing a lot of challenges, and as thinkers we have always been solvers. As I understand, the problem is not about the food production, but instead it is about the world population. Back maybe 50 years ago, the world produced more food than ever especially with the progress of science. We have many engineers specialized in food development who helped produce more and more food. Therefore, the first measure I would suggest is to find ways to decrease the world population by controlling the rate of birth. We have to educate all couples about the necessity not to have a lot of children especially in poor countries. The second inportant measure is to make the green revolution a reality by taking fast, drastic, and accurate steps to stop the deterioration of our environment in order to impact the global warming, which is a vital factor responsible of the floodings we are coping almost every day. We know that with those floodings, the water takes the fertile soil away leaving behind the unproductive one. The last point I would raise is to advice the rich countries to spend money where it really helps. Also, if the westerns countries can get together to stop spending money on wars, which sometimes they provoke, avoid food waste, which sometimes can feed a lot of poor countries, I believe we can find a durable solution to this problem.
Sustainability although ideal, is not possible at this point in time. While there are some countries that have already developed others are still in the process. These developing countries are undergoing big changes, which calls for expansion. As their populations begin to grow, they need more space to house these people and food production needs increase in order to insure survival. Perhaps if there were less people, we would have more food. That does not mean that people should go to the extreme of eliminating others, but there has to be some sort of limit. What is the point of having a whole bunch of children if you cannot afford to feed them? There will come a time where they will die from starvation, like the children in Africa. It is difficult to have birth control when you don’t even know that it exists. So educating people about contraceptives is vital. It is in everyone’s benefit to help these people because in the long-run, it improves the lives of everyone. It gives everyone the equal opportunity to live a healthy and prosperous life. Our resources are quickly diminishing and if we are unable to find alternatives, we will be in bad shape. These alternatives that we can come-up with are on a trial-and-error basis, but can we really afford to make mistakes? Only time will tell. We have to be careful with everything that we do because there are consequences to all actions. Solutions, other than alternatives, would be to attempt to make peace with other countries; some may argue that this is impossible but it just might be possible. Having a common goal may be the drive that solves the world populations versus food production problem. If food was evenly distributed and we could find some way to control population, we would be much better off.
We should really be grateful for the luxuries we experience. we have fresh water to drink at any time, most of us dont go hungry at night, while in africa children starve. Although there are many measures that are being taken to aid these people it is not enough. but who do we call on to fix these problems. we as a global community need to take action changing the way we grow our food. this is already taking place in New York. Rooftop hydroponic greenhouses can provide fruits and vegetables, if we expand the technology to more locations it can provide produce for all of new york without transportation cost. We all live on one small earth, everything is connected. Global warming is taking place theres no doubt about it .Natural disasters puts the world economy in stress and with global warming its only a matter of time before we HAVE to change
i believe we humans continue to live as if we're not the problem when it comes down to pollution. As long as the majority of the human race keep living like slobs our problems will remain. As our problems remain and our population continue to grow our lives will get more and more difficult over time.Although the human race is extremely intelligent and is well aware of whats hurting our lives we still tend to carry on with our bad habits and hope somehow it will all get better on its own. We need to start paying attention more on the day to day things that we all do that pollute our environment and change those habits for a better and promising future.
With the introduction to this issue the most immediate solutions seem simple enough, as few students have mentioned. These include countries like America for example, altering their diets and either donating food or having it distributed in a “communist” fashion. These solutions are however flawed since human beings have a natural tendency to be selfish which will most likely never allow these propositions to ever follow through. This is where the “survival of the fittest” perspective may come into view. Gerald’s proposal in my opinion was interesting but as mentioned, unethical and extremely unlikely to ever be taken action upon. Franklin Hernandez had a very interesting proposition as well that can work in a very minimal way, which can tie into Yvonne’s response which spoke of self motivation. The response that I felt was the best structured and concrete was Doris. I could find no flaws in her argument and quite frankly it is a proposition that can be executed in the near future. Assuming that everyone knows the immediate damages that overpopulation and overproduction of food is causing based on what was said in the article (starvation, greenhouse gases, deforestation, etc.) I think the most important and what should be immediately prioritized is a halt in the rapid reproduction rate. This can be done with something similar to China’s one child policy. Of course it does not need to be so strict seeing as some American couples prefer to have no children. It is just something that should be monitored by all governments in order to slow the rate down. Based on personal observations (which may be wrong) I also feel that this over population phenomenon is not only affecting the external world but as well as the internal. I feel that with an overabundance of human beings, the value of the individual is diminished. Things are advertised to masses and people in our generation begin to lose a sense of true identity. This is a problem that I prioritize in my mind due to personal philosophies which have me conclude that we could all continue speaking of this topic objectively but in the end those who will provide a solution are only those who care enough to put their propositions into action or at least help do so. I feel the need to emphasize my fellow students’ responses into mine because it ties into my proposal, which is similar to Vera’s and Daniela. I believe that there needs to be a stronger sense of community in order to even attempt to solve a mere fraction of the global issues that we currently face. The potential lies within us as students as well as those who are our mentors (professors).
Humanity is destroying everything as usual, some philosophers said once: people are going to face their own destruction with giant steps. They don’t care anymore about anything more than themselves, and those who do care just get tired of watching the ignorance, the lack of understanding and other matters that don’t worth mentioning.
The problem with the food and overpopulation is just a face that shows the real issues that go under and these issues are not new, they came from the past, is just that we are getting to a moment were we have to make a choice, either do something about it or being erase from the eyes of existence.
It is up to us, it is up to our children. The only way to change the future is analyzing the past and changing the present. One have to believe that it just take a person to make the whole difference. It is now or never.
After reading this article. I realize that in the us we are bless to have food. As time goes on, we are going to face many difficult momemt.The Sub-Saharan Africa people it nine times less than what we call normal eating in America. The price is rising up. What does our politicians, economist said about that? We get to the time where we have a lack of natural ressources. We not suppose to forget that the world population has risen from 250 million to 500 million, And it is expected to reach 11 billion in 2100. As the population grow we will need more food. All of us should do something to stop the price risen.
Why do people keep on bringing more people to the world? If we decide to reproduce, we must also learn to compromise: but no! We are becoming even more and more hungry for food, power, land - and it doesn't really seem like we want to slow down anytime soon. We keep on burning oil, we continue with land reclammation, we keep on killing whales, and we continue funding industries that poison our drinking water.
We have to really care about what we are doing to the world with our uncontrollable growth and our disgusting appetite for food and resources. Until we are able to see this clearly and take it to our hearts, I don't think we're getting anywhere.
I still keep a small grain of optimism though. Humanity has achieved many great things throughout history. We've made pyramids, great walls, ships, planes, and computers. We can unite and dethrone a dictator. I'm sure that if we want it bad enough, we can stop our vicious cycle an attitude and start working for each other and for our earth - whether it is slowing down birth rates or being more considerate with the world we live in
30 comments:
As time goes on, we as a species are faced with a harsh yet very important dilema, and that is our lack of resources for an ever-growing human population. With so many contributing factors, it is no wonder why people are starting to take notice, and concern. This, in and of itself gives the hope that humanity can fix this issue with an answer we now already have, such as by being friendlier to the enviornment, and attempting to aid in world wide food shortages. It is true, that eventually our planet will proove to have a cap level for the number of human beings, but to be honest, I belive that by the time that comes to be, humanity will have taken the necessary steps to provide resources efficiently, and perhaps control population with an idea that seems "out of this world" with ideas as far as space colonization by humans. Time is our only way to know.
Humanity can no longer afford to keep living the way we are today. I believe that many of the things affecting the earth is naturally cause. But there is no doubt in my mind that the most of it is anthropogenic caused. Agriculture is one of the main factors for greenhouse gases that is inevitably damaging the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases is a contributor to the climate change, which brings us back to all the natural disaster occurring such as flooding and weather changing and so on. This sequence unfortunately affects the rate of food productivity as well as the cost. I feel that with the right education to developed and underdeveloped country can make a difference. Taking approaches that can make a difference to the earth. Eventually can stabilize the food productivity and the cost of it.
Lydia Sanchez
It seems to me that this problem is trapped in an infinity loop. The world population rises well past planetary sustainability and people suffer. Demand causes food prices to rise and the poor starve. To bring down prices we would have to grow more food, but then the planet suffers as a result to pollution.
Since starvation and malnutrition are forms of intense suffering, euthanasia can cut down on the excess population problem, but how many people would find peace in the ethical dilemmas it represents? Is it ethical to allow people to live only to starve to death? Is it ethical to take food from the mouth of an elderly person to feed a starving infant?
Another way to cut down on excess population is war. It does seem that the world does not need help in this department. Constant conflict already decimates populations the world over. It may be unethical, but for each life lost on a battlefield, there is one less mouth to feed. Less hungry people, less demand, prices go down.
Of course I am not serious with these solutions. I merely wanted to point out that there are no easy answers to this problem outside of reevaluating the current systems that govern the world. These solutions work within the system, never questioning the values of that system.
The rules of capitalism govern the price of food. Supply and demand. They also are the chief forces responsible for a nation’s financial well being. A poor country equals an undereducated populous, and so on. Roll these together (along with a generous helping of religious doctrine demanding childbirth) and you get a downward spiral for civilization. Unless the very ways that humans use to manage the world are questioned, the only solutions left are outrageous ones that leave the larger problem intact.
Two final questions: Knowing the food supply/cost problem how ethical is it for a single person, a CEO for example, to make millions and millions of dollars for personal use only? On a smaller scale, is it ethical to spend hundreds on a piece of clothing?
Gerald Learnard
Natural disasters as we call it, are mostly caused by humans themselves! If we don’t stop the pollution , wasting water, littering, cutting down trees , nature will eventually try to restore order and by doing so many human vitalities will be taken like food , water, and many others. Therefore, food industries raise the price because food is a necessity and since it gets more expense for them to produce they have to make a profit somehow. Also the world population increases every year which means more people need to be fed. China is one of the most populated countries in the world and also the most developing one, but they have tried to decrease human reproduction due to food crises and many others. However, there still are the crises of food production and human reproduction, which seem to be a bit problematic to control. In America food is been wasted all the time, instead of regulating human reproduction we should advertise how to decrease the amount of food we consume and throw away every day. In my opinion there will be more to come if we , humans keep living the way we do.
Ladisleydi Almaguer
I believe this problem is one of many issues we face in society today. Deforestation, global warming, and rising costs of fuel contribute to many concerns we face. If we haven’t changed our approach to lower our carbon footprint , then how can we ask for a lower costs in food? I am a strong believer in the fac t that our worlds natural disasters are enhanced by our irresponsible and inefficient way of living. The Greenhouse gases is contribute to climate change; an unnatural way of changing the climate only causes more harm than good. Along with the climate changes, come poor cultivation from reliable crops furthermore incapacitating our yearning for global nutrition. One point, I will add that can cause eyebrows to raise is the fact that sub-saharan areas of Africa are experiencing famine not only to loss of crops, and high costs in food but primarily to the plunging economy in the area. A healthy economy is necessary to ensure all the countries matters follow through easily. Unfortunately, Africa is a very poor country and lack resources to further their productivity. A systematic approach is necessary to fix the issues at hand. China has one of the largest populations per country in the world. Matter of fact, If the entire population of China walked by you single file, the line would never end because of the rate of productivity. That being said, the Chinese are quite innovative when it comes to resourcing food. They always make something out of nothing and really get their bang for their buck from the foods they purchase. In America, we are gluttonous, wasteful, and oblivious to current world issues and continue increasing our carbon footprint without regards for our natural resources. Unfortunately, I do not see a remedy to this problem unless America lowers their high head and agrees to help the world together to executively plan a plan to lower the costs of food and provide assistance to crops in famished areas. That way, we can all live in harmony.
Alexandra Cruz
A country without sufficient natural resources to generate products will have a difficult time. Not all the countries are facing the same problem ,because it is possible for a country to have an abundance of natural resources and still be unable to make use of them, for example Haiti because of technological, and organizational backwardness , selfishness ,and lack of imagination,creativity,and political stability.
WE also should not forget that the world population has risen from 250 million to 500 million. Nevertheless it is expected to reach 11 billion in 2100. Have we taken time to ask our self what life will look like by that time. We are worried for now what about tomorrow? And as the future generation that we are representing what are we going to do as respect to that, to that explosion? Not only has the growth of the population had an impact on the depletion of energy supplies, minerals and topsoil.
A lot of people for a reason or another are escaping from their country to another because of need and desperation .while we are outnumber of people for cultivation, offices job are numbered of them on the waiting list. Because of lack of job, life expenses are worsened. Since everything are auto robotic we are having less and less job for us human .Will we let’s these Robot take over us? will we seat and watch the future o our kids ?
Emmie
As time goes on it seems as if the entire Earth will become one huge Easter Island. We seem to be bruning through our resources faster than they can be produced. It can easily be seen by the spike in prices at the grocery stores, a pack of chicken used to cost about $3.00 and now they are anywhere from $8 to $15 depending on where you shop. The population increase doesn't help the situation at all. The major question is can we do anything to fix the problem before it is way to late? Many great minds are trying to find an answer to this problem. I personally think that we will eventually find the answer but alot of things have to happen in order for it to work. For one the fact of poverty in many countries including our own, there are way to many benefits to people that have money and none of them apply to those without. The rise in prices are one of the biggest problem for people in poverty, they can't afford to keep up with these constant price spikes. I unfortunatly do not have the answer to what can be done, but if we can invent computers with artificial intellegence I am sure something can be done about the food shortage.
As you know time is infinite, but resources are not. The human population seems to be on the rise which means we'll need to provide our future generation with food, shelter, etc... But what if they have nothing to look forward to except a wasteland void of resources.
One solution I can think of is to get back to our farming roots and lend a hand to our starving neighboring countries. We shouldn't be using food as fuel for our daily lives.
Another solution could arise from giving back what you put into the environment (the good kind). In the end it's the least we can do to make sure that not only us but our future children who will one day inherit what's left of this earth.
The reason our food prices continue to go up it's because we are using alot and conserving less.In addition, our population continues to grow and the is more demand for supply is the more we use. The Greenhouse gases is contribute to climate change; an unnatural way of changing the climate only causes more harm than good. Along with the climate changes, come poor cultivation from reliable crops furthermore incapacitating our yearning for global nutrition. We need to take better care of our planet and filter the resources we have because sooner or later its going to come to an end. Raising the prices won't change anything but the rate of poverty because as we buy and save less we are self destructing humanity.
Steven Rodriguez
It's quite unsettling to hear facts such as Americans eat nearly nine times more than sub-Saharan Africans. I think that it is our duty as human beings to maintain the planet we inhabit. Over population is a main key factor in the increase in food prices and it has major affects on the environment. We are using all our resources up at a faster rate than the planet can replenish them. Green house gases are ever increasing and having dramatic effects on our climate including droughts and floods. This causes many lives to be taken and it's almost as if the planet knows its over populated and it's naturally trying to fix the problem. To be sustainable is incredibly important and human beings have not yet mastered it. I feel Earth is trying to find a cure itself to keep living. Without this planet we have nothing and people are so forgetful and wasteful. We need to become more aware of all our actions and how they play a major role in the environment.
If in Sub-Saharan Africa people it nine times less than what we call normal eating in America, then we must first define normal. Because it’s becoming normal for most of American to become obese and also younger generations are consuming more food; causing a health risk to themselves, and not to mention additional medical cost. America is considered a country of freedom but if we can reeducate human species on how to eat to maintain a well balance life. Then we can stop obesity here in this country and help others, for example in Africa to have a higher percentage of food intakes. Another possible solution is growing your own garden; naturally. It’s a nice hobby and one can control the ingredient’s that go into producing; beautiful vegetables and fruits.
Brighitie
If it is true that a person in Africa eats nine times less than someone in America, then we don’t really have a problem of scarcity, instead we have a problem of epidemically selfishness nature. The most logical solution would be to adapt a “communist” way of thinking; In America many of us throws away food simply because we “don’t like them”, then if we can afford to do that why not put those cans of asparagus you hate into donations centers. I’m certain that if people in America and for the matter on any country would help even on a small way, then world hunger would not be a current issue. The problem is not “from where will we get more food supply?” the supply is there alright; however, what the problem seems is to be is “how could we equally distribute it?”. Remember that the smallest changes makes the biggest differences.
The demographic explosion, the increase in food prices and our planet‘s sustainability are three related topics when it comes to think over the human existence. The diversity of the world considered in its whole makes it difficult to comment about this kind of subject because this is a complex situation where every nation has different interest to defend. The fact that overpopulation can cause inflation, which can directly affect the price of our food, it automatically threatens the way our environment is evolving. However, Can we all do something to reduce the damages? Knowing that we all will pay the price can help us act in a way to sustain life on earth by being a responsible human being no matter of who one is and what one is doing. So, self-motivation and empathy are two keys in finding means to favor a better condition of life.
Yvonne Duthil
Food has always been a subject of scarcity. Most of the modern world today arguably obtains their food from supermarkets. People should plant more gardens and not rely so much on wasteful corporations and chemically laced foods. This would certainly make a difference not only in our bodily health but also the health of our planet. It may save us money and isn't at all that hard to do. Much of the problem of scarcity also stems fundamentally from people's greed, laziness, and selfishness. In reality, though there are infinite wants and limited resources, we actually have plenty of resources in this world--many renewable or potentially renewable. Unfortunately it is against the grain of nature for humans to show restraint and selflessness as much as they will desire things. I think the bigger picture--though it is difficult to capture now in the present--is that we will really need to find a way to get a grip on some form of sustainable energy. Sustainable energy is connected a new generation of scientists and the schools that teach them. With less money going towards fossil fuels, what is saved can feed into future cycle of investments to feed the world.
Franklin Hernandez
It is not something new for us to hear about hunger, poverty and misery in different places around this planet, I think it has been like this since the beginning of the existence of humans. A perfect world where everybody is happy is a utopia that many have already tried and it has proven not to work, mostly because it is in our nature to be competitive, and it is in the law of evolution for the weak not to survive. Although this is a reality, we need to admit that this is a sad reality because many of the humans suffering are children who have no fault. In this case, to the question regarding whether we can do something or not I would say that of course we can. But the arising question would be do we really want to? Our hearts all soften when we see commercials talking about poor children who do not have food or clothes to wear on, but when the child is near, most people tend to look somewhere else. Is this fair? Well, it’s not our obligation to help others because to be honest, most people would not help you if it was you, but it should be in our desire to do the best to others who need it. What’s the solution? Give them something to eat, but at the same time, give them an education that can allow them to learn how to earn food by themselves. Education once again is the key to success. I do not believe we should buy fewer groceries or just feel bad because we are eating them. We work hard to earn that right, what we should do is to help others to learn how to earn it too. Also, it is true that our resources are limited but as we have seen in history, our imagination and creativity when it comes to developing new techniques for getting more out of this limited amount of resources is limitless. For this reason, I think the best way to help those who need it, is, in our personal case as students, to study hard and educate ourselves so that we could later on, as professionals, be the creators of new ways to deal with scarcity and that way help those who need it.
With the world’s population skyrocketing and our resources declining at a high rate we are in desperate need of a change in the way we do business. Till now we have consumed and consumed without regard for those who have nothing. Statistics show that we are currently in a position to adequately feed every human on this planet, however our materialistic way of life supplies those who want with everything and leaves those who need with nothing. If we were to change our lifestyle and begin to care about our neighboring countries the world can recover from this dire state of emergency and the hungry will be no more. The unequal distribution of food is atrocious, and our ecosystem cannot bare the weight of our lifestyles much longer.
-David Salinas
Well, the only way to really fix this problem would be to start distributing food to every country equally. In other words, the trade of food needs to be balanced because right now it definitely isn't. Why should half of the world starve and the other half have enough food, which gets thrown away by those who do not need it. I never understood why one country can be poor and another rich...food production can only be increased if it is distributed well amongst the other nations. There is really no reason for anyone in the world to be dying or starving from not being able to eat! It just makes no sense. I know it would be great challenge to fix this problem, but the only way to fix it is to start taking some real action towards the food production system. I think that one way to fix this problem would be to grow crops in area where there is lots of land. This would add to the production of food and that could be used to feed those in need.
Here is one of the several alternatives of solutions to this problem. Governments from developing countries need to assist producers with research, technical assistance, financing and better road infrastructure to improve the flow of the country’s production. Research will determine and encourage farmers to use other varieties of seeds that can be more adaptable and resistant to extreme conditions. Professional support will show producers better alternatives to control pests, use irrigation systems, diversify their crops and monitor the development of their harvest. All these will ensure the ability to employ less scarce resources, increase productivity and have enough crops during scarcity or bad weather conditions. Even though developing countries claim that they don’t have enough funds to help their farmers, they can work with donations that develop countries give them or make financial treaties with other ally countries to guarantee local production and international exchange. Without money, farmers lack their opportunities to acquire better machineries, equipments, human resources, fertilizers and pesticides that are essential for an optimal and affordable production. Farmers need to have good road infrastructure to introduce harvesting materials to their fields and to distribute their products to market areas. Without this, producers battle with time, spoilage and pilferage when they are transporting perishable and non- perishable products. These weaken their ability to compete with other markets because their products don’t meet good agricultural practices. It also causes economic, financial and production disadvantages to the country and the agricultural sector. All these can be possible if the government of developing countries and producers work together to ensure a sustainable production, and only if these governments invest their funds efficiently in the agricultural sector without corruption which is another main problem in these developing countries.
Doris Flores
The number of problems the world is facing is overwhelming; nevertheless, I believe that any solution starts with the awareness and the recognition of those problems. Brazil and the Amazon: as Brazil becomes a developed nation, the greater is their power and the stronger is the voice that rises against the deforestation. Hunger and poverty can only be fought if the world fights against corruption.
The issue of hunger haunts our every day lives and it seems to me that as everyone criticizes the USA by exposing the way the food is wasted in this country and so on, the majority does not realize that it is here that there is the most discernment and conscientiousness about such problems. My life experience has taken me to very contrasting parts of the world from Nigeria to Norway, Monaco… and I was born in Brazil. Since I came to Miami, to Wolfson, I have been more aware of the problems in the world, for the first time in my life I saw a country come to help to International Students, immigrants, under privileged just to give education, to change people’s lives. In this world I have seen hunger and corruption, which, for me is one of the major problems of underdeveloped countries, one of the main reasons why food or help does not reach people in need. In my opinion, and from what I have seen, my hope lies in the hands of specialists in economic development like the Professors my daughter has introduced me to: Dr. Edward Miguel, Professor of Economic Development at UC Berkeley who wrote Economic Gangsters with Dr.Raymond Fisman from Columbia University. They speak about the misappropriation of foreign aid money and corruption. When I hear them, I know they are looking at things that no one looked at before and I know the solution for hunger and world poverty lies in the hands of people like them. There is hope.
http://zocalopublicsquare.org/zocalo_video_podcasts/media/zocalo_081028.mp
Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia Uni..www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEJCWQZvTCM All this is happening in America. A revolution in which Professors like you, Professor Triff, plant their seed, in every class. I feel privileged to be here and I want to be part of all of this.
As we all know the world seems to come to an end. Little by little we see how we are hardly getting any type of rain or if not the soil is bad and everything is getting flooded. This all leads us to all the tragedies going around and not helping the situation. With all this happening, what we do is try to buy food from other countries, as we normally do, but they get more expensive and less affordable. As this happens there are other countries that are leaving their land dry to try to sell the last item they can, but at the end they leave children hungry and make matters worse. In retrospect, this all comes back to a circle if we think about it. We are always trying to succeed in one part, but fail on the other and we never care who we leave behind. Just as long as it’s not us. That’s why we are how we are in this world.
I believe there should be a universal law that permits a family from having more than two children. There must a restriction/hold on how much reproduction is being allowed. The earth cannot sustain this current population and in a few years doubling, I wonder what the world will look like then. People need to just stop reproducing for a few years so the earth can have some time to regenerate at least a little. Then, the universal prices should drastically decrease for some time as well because for example the people in African and other undeveloped countries cannot afford as much food as they actually need. Finally, there should be an organization that is strictly in charge of making sure that everywhere and everyone in the world has access to food and shelter.
-Leandro Lescailles
I believe that we as a planet need to help the less fortunate countries that have been affected by bad weather. Helping out countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Argentina just to name a few could help out our lack of food production. When I mean that we should give these countries some aid, I don’t mean that we should just giving them a certain amount of money and hope that they use the money for good and not bad. No I believe that we should help them out on the educational level. We should teach the farmers the right way to grow their crops by not using all these different kinds of chemicals that sure can help out grow your crops faster or could get you a chicken to by double the size in half the time, but at the end of the day is harmful for us to eat.
What is happening now in the increase of the world population against the high price in food production is a big concern in the sense that we, as humans are responsible of our own destruction. However, I don't think it is something we cannot overcome because we have always been facing a lot of challenges, and as thinkers we have always been solvers. As I understand, the problem is not about the food production, but instead it is about the world population. Back maybe 50 years ago, the world produced more food than ever especially with the progress of science. We have many engineers specialized in food development who helped produce more and more food. Therefore, the first measure I would suggest is to find ways to decrease the world population by controlling the rate of birth. We have to educate all couples about the necessity not to have a lot of children especially in poor countries. The second inportant measure is to make the green revolution a reality by taking fast, drastic, and accurate steps to stop the deterioration of our environment in order to impact the global warming, which is a vital factor responsible of the floodings we are coping almost every day. We know that with those floodings, the water takes the fertile soil away leaving behind the unproductive one. The last point I would raise is to advice the rich countries to spend money where it really helps. Also, if the westerns countries can get together to stop spending money on wars, which sometimes they provoke, avoid food waste, which sometimes can feed a lot of poor countries, I believe we can find a durable solution to this problem.
Sustainability although ideal, is not possible at this point in time. While there are some countries that have already developed others are still in the process. These developing countries are undergoing big changes, which calls for expansion. As their populations begin to grow, they need more space to house these people and food production needs increase in order to insure survival. Perhaps if there were less people, we would have more food. That does not mean that people should go to the extreme of eliminating others, but there has to be some sort of limit. What is the point of having a whole bunch of children if you cannot afford to feed them? There will come a time where they will die from starvation, like the children in Africa.
It is difficult to have birth control when you don’t even know that it exists. So educating people about contraceptives is vital. It is in everyone’s benefit to help these people because in the long-run, it improves the lives of everyone. It gives everyone the equal opportunity to live a healthy and prosperous life.
Our resources are quickly diminishing and if we are unable to find alternatives, we will be in bad shape. These alternatives that we can come-up with are on a trial-and-error basis, but can we really afford to make mistakes? Only time will tell. We have to be careful with everything that we do because there are consequences to all actions. Solutions, other than alternatives, would be to attempt to make peace with other countries; some may argue that this is impossible but it just might be possible. Having a common goal may be the drive that solves the world populations versus food production problem. If food was evenly distributed and we could find some way to control population, we would be much better off.
We should really be grateful for the luxuries we experience. we have fresh water to drink at any time, most of us dont go hungry at night, while in africa children starve. Although there are many measures that are being taken to aid these people it is not enough. but who do we call on to fix these problems. we as a global community need to take action changing the way we grow our food. this is already taking place in New York. Rooftop hydroponic greenhouses can provide fruits and vegetables, if we expand the technology to more locations it can provide produce for all of new york without transportation cost. We all live on one small earth, everything is connected. Global warming is taking place theres no doubt about it .Natural disasters puts the world economy in stress and with global warming its only a matter of time before we HAVE to change
i believe we humans continue to live as if we're not the problem when it comes down to pollution. As long as the majority of the human race keep living like slobs our problems will remain. As our problems remain and our population continue to grow our lives will get more and more difficult over time.Although the human race is extremely intelligent and is well aware of whats hurting our lives we still tend to carry on with our bad habits and hope somehow it will all get better on its own. We need to start paying attention more on the day to day things that we all do that pollute our environment and change those habits for a better and promising future.
With the introduction to this issue the most immediate solutions seem simple enough, as few students have mentioned. These include countries like America for example, altering their diets and either donating food or having it distributed in a “communist” fashion. These solutions are however flawed since human beings have a natural tendency to be selfish which will most likely never allow these propositions to ever follow through. This is where the “survival of the fittest” perspective may come into view. Gerald’s proposal in my opinion was interesting but as mentioned, unethical and extremely unlikely to ever be taken action upon. Franklin Hernandez had a very interesting proposition as well that can work in a very minimal way, which can tie into Yvonne’s response which spoke of self motivation. The response that I felt was the best structured and concrete was Doris. I could find no flaws in her argument and quite frankly it is a proposition that can be executed in the near future. Assuming that everyone knows the immediate damages that overpopulation and overproduction of food is causing based on what was said in the article (starvation, greenhouse gases, deforestation, etc.) I think the most important and what should be immediately prioritized is a halt in the rapid reproduction rate. This can be done with something similar to China’s one child policy. Of course it does not need to be so strict seeing as some American couples prefer to have no children. It is just something that should be monitored by all governments in order to slow the rate down. Based on personal observations (which may be wrong) I also feel that this over population phenomenon is not only affecting the external world but as well as the internal. I feel that with an overabundance of human beings, the value of the individual is diminished. Things are advertised to masses and people in our generation begin to lose a sense of true identity. This is a problem that I prioritize in my mind due to personal philosophies which have me conclude that we could all continue speaking of this topic objectively but in the end those who will provide a solution are only those who care enough to put their propositions into action or at least help do so. I feel the need to emphasize my fellow students’ responses into mine because it ties into my proposal, which is similar to Vera’s and Daniela. I believe that there needs to be a stronger sense of community in order to even attempt to solve a mere fraction of the global issues that we currently face. The potential lies within us as students as well as those who are our mentors (professors).
Katie Acosta
Humanity is destroying everything as usual, some philosophers said once: people are going to face their own destruction with giant steps. They don’t care anymore about anything more than themselves, and those who do care just get tired of watching the ignorance, the lack of understanding and other matters that don’t worth mentioning.
The problem with the food and overpopulation is just a face that shows the real issues that go under and these issues are not new, they came from the past, is just that we are getting to a moment were we have to make a choice, either do something about it or being erase from the eyes of existence.
It is up to us, it is up to our children. The only way to change the future is analyzing the past and changing the present. One have to believe that it just take a person to make the whole difference. It is now or never.
After reading this article. I realize that in the us we are bless to have food. As time goes on, we are going to face many difficult momemt.The Sub-Saharan Africa people it nine times less than what we call normal eating in America. The price is rising up. What does our politicians, economist said about that? We get to the time where we have a lack of natural ressources. We not suppose to forget that the world population has risen from 250 million to 500 million, And it is expected to reach 11 billion in 2100. As the population grow we will need more food. All of us should do something to stop the price risen.
Marckenley Fertil
Why do people keep on bringing more people to the world? If we decide to reproduce, we must also learn to compromise: but no! We are becoming even more and more hungry for food, power, land - and it doesn't really seem like we want to slow down anytime soon. We keep on burning oil, we continue with land reclammation, we keep on killing whales, and we continue funding industries that poison our drinking water.
We have to really care about what we are doing to the world with our uncontrollable growth and our disgusting appetite for food and resources. Until we are able to see this clearly and take it to our hearts, I don't think we're getting anywhere.
I still keep a small grain of optimism though. Humanity has achieved many great things throughout history. We've made pyramids, great walls, ships, planes, and computers. We can unite and dethrone a dictator. I'm sure that if we want it bad enough, we can stop our vicious cycle an attitude and start working for each other and for our earth - whether it is slowing down birth rates or being more considerate with the world we live in
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