Chapter 7: Food and Agriculture

Less than 2200 kcal a day- not enough to sustain healthy lifestyle

Ability to obtain sufficient food on a day-to-day basis

Large scale food shortages, massive starvation, social disruption, and economic chaos

A nutritional imbalance casued by a lack of speicifc nutirents

Low hemoglobin levels in blood Iron Deficiency

Swelling of thyroids from Iodine definciency

West African Displaced child - belly swells - Marasmus

Wheat, Rice, Corn

High input of pesticides, fossil fuels, water, captial Huge environmental impacts

Huge consumption of land (deforestation, overgrazing) Shifting cultivation in tropical forests- SA and Africa Nomadic Herding in deserts and steppes (african and Asia) 1 farmer feeds family

High labor, low capital and energy inputs China, India, SE Asia 1 farmer feeds several

Loss of productive potential in soil Loss of topsoil results in less fertility and less water holding capacity Other aspects: salinity, acidity, soil compaction, nutrient depletion

Less Tillage and Grazing More terracing, Strip cropping, coutouring, and shelterbelts

Selective absorption and storage of a great variety of molecules can be good and bad

Toxic burden of a large number of organisms at a lower trophic level is accumulated and concentrated by a predator in a higher trophic level