M6.4 Industrial Farming

Bee The Movie

I'm going to be honest, I never really understood why bees were so important until know. Even though it appears to be common sense of why bees are needed, I did not know that their role in our environment. The movie discusses the basic role bees have in our environment which is vital for agriculture. The video also discusses the disappearances of bees in recent years. Bees have been disappearing for unknown reasons which has started to create a problem for agriculture. Farmers hypothesized that the pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture are driving the bees away. But yet, there is not clear explanation of why bees are disappearing. Bees are pollinators which is important for the production of foods. The article The Pollinator’s Decline Could Harm Health of Millions, explains that pollinators are responsible for 35% of food production and are 40% of the worlds supply of important nutrients. Pollinators help produce foods rich in Vitamin A and folate, which are important for children and women. What I found more interesting it that researchers discovered that a complete loss of pollinators would lead to 71 million people into vitamin A deficiency and 173 million people into folate deficiency, and would lead to about 1.42 million more deaths due to non-communicable diseases. A decrease in pollinators has been seen in the past decade, but researches have not been able to identify why these pollinators are disappearing. 


Dirt!
Factory Farm 
Composting

Dirt, the movie was an eyeopener, I found this documentary very interesting. Let me start off with saying that I did not know the importance of dirt. Like many, I have always though that dirt was just dirt, and it had no significance. I was wrong!. Dirt plays a very important role in our environment as well. Dirt is described as having various organisms and makes up the living "skin" of Earth. Dirt provides an environment in which plants can grow, which provides food for other organisms. Dirt composes 5 cm of superficial layer on the surface of earth, and in the past decades humans have taken dirt for granted. With the creation of cities, production of agriculture using various chemicals, and other uses, dirt has been destroyed. Without dirt, animals and humans can not live. Dirt plays an important role in our environment, and for many years humans have been using chemicals in agriculture that destroy dirt. For example, farmers use Nitrogen as a pesticide. While nitrogen kills pests, it contaminates the dirt and water resources and contributes to air pollution. In recent years, individuals have been involvement in a movement that uses protects dirt. For example, community gardens have been created to promote sustainable farming practices. 

I live in the City of Woodland, north of Sacramento, farm land surrounds Woodland in all directions. I was not surprise with the amount of animals in these farmlands. But I was surprised to know that there is an average of 2,188 animals per site. This raises many questions on the conditions these animals are raised in. The use of antibiotics on these animals that humans eventually consume can make humans less responsive to antibiotics. The waste product produce by these farms also add to the contamination of water resources in the area. 

No I do not compose and I do not know anyone that does. During undergrad at UC Davis, we were required to compose certain waste. I understand the benefits of composting and how to approach the idea. We are currently renting and to be honest, at the moment it seems like a hassle to be able to compose. I know that is something that we can easily do, and it's definitely something we are open to doing once we have our own home.