Wednesday, September 7, 2011

TR 9:50am

14 comments:

sean mcdougall said...

this is an extremely massive problem that has been facing us for years, and nothing has been done about it. the earth has been overpopulated, humans are about 10,000 times more common on earth then we should be. none the less we are all here and we have the issue to deal with.
there are a couple solutions to solve this problem. one of which would be to have restrictions the amount of children allowed to a family such as in china.
another answer would be to educate the population on preventative measures of unwanted child birth and provide a better source of anti-contraceptives to the public.
a third answer which should be though of by everyone, is it within my means to have a child and am i ready to care and raise a child, if not use the proper precautions you are going to engage in sex.
as for the food crisis that this increase in population has put us in we need to find ways to provide food for those not being fed also provide a way for them to get on their feet and started generating income. an answer would be for more unemployed people to work on farms cultivating crops and for us to use crops such as soy which grow in mass amounts and can be widely used for multiple things to crate a wide source of nutrition for people.

Sean McDougall

Celia Taylor said...

The food crisis is very unfortunate. One of the ways I personally find it most disturbing is the lack of balance. While Americans are over producing food by exploiting animals and land in inhumane ways, other countries don’t even have the economic or agricultural means to create their own food source. While I believe there is enough food to go around, especially if the local food movement keeps on the up, issues like these certainly take the world as a whole contributing. This is the reason why many problems of these sorts just don’t get solved because people around the world cant come together as a whole to solve problems because they cant identify with these people that seem so far away.

Bertha Rueda said...

Food has always been the most important consumer item, and price increase usually hit poorer families, especially when a big amount of their household budget is spent on food. Food prices have raise due to many reasons, and the constant rise in oil price will put even more pressure as oil is important to produce and transport food over the world. The lack of education and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies equals to more people being born which means that more food is needed. Unfortunately, the over population is occupying and the areas of growing food with new constructions and this means less land for growing food. There are many more reasons on food price increase, but in my own experience the most important reason for the increase in the food price is when the country's peace and order is compromised, because of this, the economy of the country usually goes down, business transactions are affected, prices of basic commodities increase, and people always suffer the consequences.

Paul Perez said...

This is something i wonder about everyday, humanities future. I seriously think, if we don't come up wit solutions, we are all going to disappear. We are going to clean the earth. We have to educating people all over the world that sex should be taken seriously, it's not a game. You should bring child to this world, knowing you could support him, or at least show proof you could. Have some kind of law restricting child birth, having limits in how many kids you could have. Make it bad thing so people could see it has times goes by like a bad thing to do, a crime. Plus the welfare in this country is not helping, after a certain amount of kids you start getting special benefits for each kid you have. Look these are solution if not we are going to suck the life right out of mother nature. Millions of animal extinct or in point of and its all our fault. The fishing industry has been wiping seas. We are also cutting down are forests around the world. We have to change if not we are going to pay the consequences.

Ana Linares said...

It’s a terrible predicament we have built around us. The sad truth is we are nowhere near fixing it. At this moment there are many countries less fortunate than us, I can only imagine other countries where poverty, education and health have had these issue on going for centuries and still cannot overcome them. I believe the first issue that should be resolved is poverty. as we fix the issue of poverty we get more leeway to fix our other problems like food and education and public health. In order for us to sustain we must all cooperate, so creating more jobs is a definite must. It helps us become more productive and creating agricultural jobs is even better as we are providing jobs and at the same time producing essential products for basic living. If we continue to stay as we are prices are only going to keep on rising.

Carina Llobet said...

“In 2005, the U.S produced 42% of the world’s corn. In 2005, over 58 % of the U.S. corn crop was used for feed.” (http://www.soyatech.com/corn_facts.htm)
What would happen if instead of feeding these animals, we humans would eat the corn directly? If we take into consideration that the 2005 world production of corn was 706,263 metric tons, few people would be starving.
Therefore, I think that the demand for meats is creating a big problem and it could be reduced if we move towards a more balanced diet of locally grown products. This would also ease the water supply issue.
Another problem that we have is the over use of high-fructose corn syrup. Even though it is made from corn, we don’t get the same benefits as if we were to eat corn on-the-cob directly. And last, but not least, at the same time that consumption of high-fructose corn syrup has increased dramatically in the last 30 years because of its use in an array of products like beverages, salad dressings, yogurts, cheese, breads, etc; obesity and diabetes have sky rocketed as well.
This also relates to the fact that we eat 9 times more than a typical person in Africa.
Further more, coronary problems are the number one killer in the U.S. and obesity and diabetes play a very important role when it comes to heart diseases.
In conclusion, if we cut a step in the process and start eating more corn instead of filet mignon and make a commitment with our health and our fellow citizens of this planet that live on less fortunate lands and eat 3 times less what we eat.,there would be plenty of water, crops and food for all of us and obesity and heart problems would go down drastically.

Robert Brown said...

This problem has been put off by the world powers for decades. Poverty, overpopulation, and lack of clean water are in my opinion the most powerful forces working against world hunger. This problem will continue to rise until impoverished nations and people are given a chance to develop their own local sustainable gardens and agricultural plots. First, the problems of how to fund these local projects and how to ensure the projects have enough clean water must be solved. Until this happens, the world is at the mercy of mother nature (especially with the unpredictability of weather increasing - maybe due to global warming), unstable world economic markets (with artificial supply and demand channels), and all the worlds ecological problems (pollution and massive deforestation). I believe as a species, all nations should be working towards a more sustainable model of agriculture, and this is one of the most difficult and demanding problems that should be on the forefront of science and politics.

Christy E. said...

We are reproducing at a rate that exceeds our environments carrying capacity. This affects all of our resources especially when we abuse what we do have. I think many people do not think of the future and how using up our resources now can affect the whole world in the future. I believe a lack of education plays a role in this because if people became more aware of the little things they can do to make a huge difference I think there could be some improvement. I do not think there is an easy solution to this problem, but with little improvements from people we can try to make a difference.

MuscleGeek said...

As stated in the original post, a lot of countries are suffering from a lethal combination of poverty, lack of education, and little to no infrastructure. I believe that of the three, education plays the most important role in the current conditions of these countries. Ignorance leads to poor decisions that have far reaching consequences. Like most have mentioned before me, there has to be a greater awareness of the resources and responsibility needed to both raise and provide for a family. When one takes lack of education combined with areas where: weather conditions do not permit fruitful harvests, poverty stricken families cannot afford a loaf of bread, a corrupt militia violently hoards any and all produce or any other numerous scenarios you have the world as it is today. It is too easy to simply beg and plead with larger, more developed countries to provide handouts but this will not solve the problem. We need more educated people to find, provide and sustain their own resources instead of relying on other nations.

Sasha Philius

Reynel Mirabal said...

The rate of food production has been a very hot topic lately. Our population right now just hit 7 Billion; it’s predicted that it will go to 8 Billion by 2025. This all means that if we are in a food production crisis it will only get worse as time goes by. There is no natural or healthy way to advance our food production. What we can do to help would be decreasing the amount of children that people should have. China has a limit of two children. Asia is planning on passing the same law that there can only be 2 children per house hold. This shines a bit of light on us. Though, we still have United States and South America’s population. I think it’s very unrealistic to think that the whole world will have a limit of children that we should have. What I think that should be done is have limits to our food portion. For example, in my household there are 4 people and the extra food that we have is always thrown away. So if people cook in moderation it would definitely make a difference. Furthermore, we as human want more than what we can actually have or what is made obtainable to us. So of course we will eat more than we should. Hopefully by the law that Asia will pass about having 2 children only, it will decrease the poverty rate as the years go by. There is no natural way of advancing our food production, so the only way to fully change our world in which we live in us by us as people make responsible decisions.
Above I will include a link of our world’s population by seconds and the money and food we are wasting as the seconds pass.

http://www.worldometers.info/

Reynel Mirabal

Anonymous said...

Agriculture has been the base of the human growth since thousand years ago when the first civilizations appeared. Throughout history we see how Egyptians, Romans and Greeks used the trade of spices and cereals to satisfy their needs without knowing that they were promoting economics, mathematics, and also founding the great empires they once formed. Agriculture is beyond our time, it is beyond any science. We need to eat; it’s not a choice but a biological condition, if we don’t feed ourselves we die. I strongly belief that food shouldn’t be restricted, it shouldn’t be that scarce for people that did not choose to be born in an underdeveloped country, instead food should be facilitated to them. The fact that thousands of people die every year due to lack of food, should make us look to ourselves in a miserable way. How can we not value how fortunate we are? How can we not realize that we go to the supermarket and we have several brands and types of cheese to choose from but there are people that have never eaten cheese? At the end those people in Africa may be suffering because of us. If we pay higher prices for food products being imported to the Unites States why should crop-growers sell those products to other countries? The U.S is the number one importing country in the world… To conclude I would like to say that we are all humans and we all live in the same place, so we are not so far from one another. Shouldn’t we share our excesses and alleviate other’s suffering?
-Armas, Randy-.

Stephanie Gresseau said...

“Food is an important part of a balanced diet” quoted Fran Lebowitz. As time progresses, the importance of nourishment is obvious because a lack of nurturing for our body will cause illness and malnutrition. For example; locations such as; Africa, India, China and many more have been suffering and acknowledging the struggle of malnutrition each and every day. The increasing rate of the economy is no doubt affecting the production of food. The cost to produce a product will double or perhaps triple its price at the selling scale. The rising prices of food come from nothing more than the low inflation and the fast improving rate of the economy. Now the number of individuals who are only buying food pantries and canned goods are nearly half the percentage of the population. Therefore, the rising price of the food will continue to drive the lower class individuals into providing less healthy food products in order to save money. Imagine how much more difficult it will be for those who cannot even afford to feed themselves or their family? Think about the countries who are now struggling with poverty? How much more will they have to do just to satisfy their hunger? How much more can our people take? If we are one nation, under God, why do the ways our leaders think have not changed? It’s almost as though my true belief about us, one nation, is being defeated.

Nancy Narvaez said...

one major issue contributing to the food prices rising is human population. there are too many humans in this world but not enough natural resources to sustain them. controlling the increasing human population can be difficult but there are other measures that can be taken in order to avoid food scarcity. first off, i do believe that everyone should be taught the importance of natural resources, the resources earth gives us. they are very valuable and something that won't last forever if we don't use it the right way. all that we have been doing is taking and taking but we do not stop and realize the possible consequences of using up the resources. food is very vital of course but not everyone has the same amount of food available. i believe many in the united states take food for granted. for example, i know people that buy a great amount of food, things that expire especially, don't use it up, and end up throwing it away. why buy so much food for no reason? to me that is very disrespectful and a waste of money. people don't realize that there are people that don't have food available like we do. hence, i believe people should be educated about the environment and issues around the world. pregnancy prevention should be enforced more than ever. it should be taught in high school about these things, open the eyes of young adults because prevention is never spoken of in high school classes. teen mom on television shouldn't even be allowed because it portrays that girls that have kids at such a young age can have a reality tv show. lastly, in places around the world, farms should be created locally as opposed to another location where it is imported. the city/town's economy would boost up and it can create jobs.

Anonymous said...

This is a matter that has been happening forever. What causes this? To be honest, I do believe is a combination of government, education, and to some extent, culture. Countries like Darfur, and The Democratic Republic of Kongo, whose territories have been ravaged by civil war, and corrupted leaders; food scarce has become a common occurring. To me the only way to somehow solve this problem would be if the country has a powerful leader, who is willing to care about the welfare of his or her society. Somebody who educates people, and show them that the struggles that they are going through are not normal, and should not be tolerated. However, as humans we tend to be selfish. For most of us, if it does not bother us, it does not concern us. Do not get me wrong, I have no problems with being comfortable, but I do have problems with indifference, and ignorance.

Alejandro Gonzalvez