![]() Avoiding further deforestation must be a top priority. Most of the land cleared for agriculture in the tropics does not contribute much to the world’s food security but is instead used to produce cattle, soybeans for livestock, timber, and palm oil. Trading tropical forest for farmland is one of the most destructive things we do to the environment, and it is rarely done to benefit the 850 million people in the world who are still hungry. But we can no longer afford to increase food production through agricultural expansion. Agriculture’s footprint has caused the loss of whole ecosystems around the globe, including the prairies of North America and the Atlantic forest of Brazil, and tropical forests continue to be cleared at alarming rates. ![]() To raise livestock, we’ve taken over even more land, an area roughly the size of Africa. We’ve already cleared an area roughly the size of South America to grow crops. I was fortunate to lead a team of scientists who confronted this simple question: How can the world double the availability of food while simultaneously cutting the environmental harm caused by agriculture? After analyzing reams of data on agriculture and the environment, we proposed five steps that could solve the world’s food dilemma.įor most of history, whenever we’ve needed to produce more food, we’ve simply cut down forests or plowed grasslands to make more farms. We would be wise to explore all of the good ideas, whether from organic and local farms or high-tech and conventional farms, and blend the best of both. Both approaches offer badly needed solutions neither one alone gets us there. They’re right too.īut it needn’t be an either-or proposition. Meanwhile proponents of local and organic farms counter that the world’s small farmers could increase yields plenty-and help themselves out of poverty-by adopting techniques that improve fertility without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Those who favor conventional agriculture talk about how modern mechanization, irrigation, fertilizers, and improved genetics can increase yields to help meet demand. The arguments can be fierce, and like our politics, we seem to be getting more divided rather than finding common ground. Unfortunately the debate over how to address the global food challenge has become polarized, pitting conventional agriculture and global commerce against local food systems and organic farms. If these trends continue, the double whammy of population growth and richer diets will require us to roughly double the amount of crops we grow by 2050. The spread of prosperity across the world, especially in China and India, is driving an increased demand for meat, eggs, and dairy, boosting pressure to grow more corn and soybeans to feed more cattle, pigs, and chickens. But sheer population growth isn’t the only reason we’ll need more food. ![]() We’ll likely have two billion more mouths to feed by mid-century-more than nine billion people. The environmental challenges posed by agriculture are huge, and they’ll only become more pressing as we try to meet the growing need for food worldwide. As we’ve cleared areas of grassland and forest for farms, we’ve lost crucial habitat, making agriculture a major driver of wildlife extinction. Agriculture also accelerates the loss of biodiversity. Farming is the thirstiest user of our precious water supplies and a major polluter, as runoff from fertilizers and manure disrupts fragile lakes, rivers, and coastal ecosystems across the globe. Note that there is no visual difference between the major and minor key signatures, but the alt text is different.Agriculture is among the greatest contributors to global warming, emitting more greenhouse gases than all our cars, trucks, trains, and airplanes combined-largely from methane released by cattle and rice farms, nitrous oxide from fertilized fields, and carbon dioxide from the cutting of rain forests to grow crops or raise livestock. Key signatures must be typed in using the names of the articles themselves on keys. The F ♯ Δ 7 is used to great effect in the last measure of the piece. III becomes III + in G ♯ minor by raising the F ♯ to F. Sample text vii o 7 becomes vii ø 7 in B ♭ minor by raising the G ♭ to G ♮. Ī descending tetrachord could be written as. Scale degrees are often represented as Arabic numerals with a hat on them and thus the root of a scale is. This makes use of Template:Time signature, which should not be used on its own. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Template:Music.
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