Are we destroying the planet to produce foods that are killing us? A case for sustainability on our table (recycle, gas)
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You earthers............here is question.
If the food is so bad then why are we, who live in America, living longer than ever?? Waiting.........
Also, organic farming allows a certain amount of pesticides to be used. Think............
You've attended way to many tie dye concerts in the park. Or burning man in the desert. Get your minds right.
Who is living longer exactly? Medium to upper income folks going above and beyond to avoid consuming generic American foods do live longer. The proles gorging on generic bonanza do not live that long and what a disease and physical limitation ridden life that is.
Agriculture is unsustainable, any agriculture, that's the nature of it. It is just that 100,000,000 people can live unsustainably effectively forever and 7 billions see writing on the wall but prefer to ignore it. People used agriculture to utterly destroy ecosystems and change local climates for some time by now. The cradle of agriculture - Middle East is desert, petrochemical free Chinese used agriculture to sterilize a good chunk of China back in the days. Even low intensity agri kills ecosystems on the massive scale and change local climates so let's just hope that massive application of fertilizers changing planetary nitrogen cycle as well as massive application of poisons and machinery to sterilize soils will not affect a thing.
Agriculture is unsustainable, any agriculture, that's the nature of it. It is just that 100,000,000 people can live unsustainably effectively forever and 7 billions see writing on the wall but prefer to ignore it. People used agriculture to utterly destroy ecosystems and change local climates for some time by now. The cradle of agriculture - Middle East is desert, petrochemical free Chinese used agriculture to sterilize a good chunk of China back in the days. Even low intensity agri kills ecosystems on the massive scale and change local climates so let's just hope that massive application of fertilizers changing planetary nitrogen cycle as well as massive application of poisons and machinery to sterilize soils will not affect a thing.
Actually, back when there were only 50-100 million people in the world, farmers using only "natural" techniques played out their fields within a few yrs and had to keep moving on. The Fertile Crescent, birth place of ag, quickly became infertile. Dan'l Boone kept moving west because he had to if he wanted to keep getting a decent harvest.
Since scientific ag using man-made fertilizers & pesticides became more generally practiced after the Dust Bowl fiasco of the '30s, farming is now in fact sustainable, whether or not The TreeHuggers want to believe it.
[I will concede that the intensive use of irrigation with water from "outside" sources in the central valley of CA is leading to salinization of the soil. That is not sustainable unless some new technology is made available.]
"Who is living longer exactly? Medium to upper income folks going above and beyond to avoid consuming generic American foods do live longer. The proles gorging on generic bonanza do not live that long and what a disease and physical limitation ridden life that is"
And there it is...........it's the upper income people that live longer not the lower income people..........all I had to do was wait a little while before I read something right out of the play book. Apparently the numbers of people living longer is a scam...........Darn those numbers always getting in the way.
"Who is living longer exactly? Medium to upper income folks going above and beyond to avoid consuming generic American foods do live longer. The proles gorging on generic bonanza do not live that long and what a disease and physical limitation ridden life that is"
And there it is...........it's the upper income people that live longer not the lower income people..........all I had to do was wait a little while before I read something right out of the play book. Apparently the numbers of people living longer is a scam...........Darn those numbers always getting in the way.
What about that number? Do share the latest conservative studies on the subject. If you'll gorge on the generic foodstuff Americans consume - your life will be shorter than that of the major stake holders of the American food chain and what disability and pain infested life that would be. American longevity is on decline for the third straight year in case you haven't heard the news https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ely-down-again
US life expectancy in 1966 when Medicare was passed was 70 yrs. Now it's almost 80 yrs. If it wasn't for all that pesticide & GMO, I guess it should be 100 by now? Life expectancy in the USA, 1900-98 (another conservative source?)
I guess all those millionaires living to 120 bring up the average.
Isn't it odd that life expectancy has fallen 3 yrs in a row (first time in history) since Obamacare was enacted? We really need even more "universal care," don't we?
Actual explanations for the fall: it could be that we've topped out on average longevity and the small yearly variations are due to chance, or that while Obamacare has given more people insurance coverage, the coverage is actually less useful: high deductibles prevent people from seeking initial care, delaying care until it's too late. Increasing drug related deaths would only account for a change of <1%.
It is my understanding that as one of the wealthiest nations our people mostly focus on eating junk foods, which cause obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a wide assortment of other known ailments.
The best healthcare in the world cannot prevent these diseases so long as we poison ourselves with the food we eat.
It is my understanding that as one of the wealthiest nations our people mostly focus on eating junk foods, which cause obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a wide assortment of other known ailments.
The best healthcare in the world cannot prevent these diseases so long as we poison ourselves with the food we eat.
Again, even with easy availability of excess calories, our life expectancy has been steadily increasing. The differences in longevity among the industrialized nations is only a matter of a few months out of 80 yrs. Meaningless..
....those differences could be just statistical error (error = chance wandering) or to minor genetic differences. Don't forget 12% of the US population is African American-- known to have much higher rates of deadly diabetic and hypertensive renal disease in middle age (no real treatment & preventive measures not all that effective) and that our affluent economy has our MVA death rate (affecting younger people) ~10% higher than other industrialized nations.
It ain't the food.
[BTW- consider The Obesity Paradox that has been dogging the geniuses at the ACC for decades-- overweight people have a higher survival rate after MI than thin people.]
I love when people say "tree huggers" as if it's an insult. I'm a proud tree hugger.
It's pretty much impossible for a species of billions to not damage the planet, but we all should be working together to reduce waste and pollution as much as we can. This is not some issue that only matters to tree-hugging hippies. Every single human alive right now, especially those who have children and grandchildren, should be concerned about what the future on earth is going to look like for us all.
I agree with OP that it's not about perfection. Everyone should just do what they can and not shame others for what they can't do. Maybe to some it's being vegan. To others, it's being childfree and not adding to the population growth. Maybe you have 5 kids but you're teaching them to love the environment. Maybe you're a meat lover but you're reducing your plastic use. Whatever you're doing, you're awesome. So please keep doing your best and don't let anyone shame you. I think a lot of the problem in society (and perhaps why some of you hate "tree huggers") is people tend to think in extremes and attack others WAY too much. This makes people closed off to change, when in reality, everyone making small efforts when and where they can is what is needed.
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