Food Supply and Environmental Issues Research Paper

Food Supply and Environmental Issues - Research Paper Example According to past trends, there have been plans of increasing food production in order to counter the increasing consumption rates. Despite the existence of such plans, the consumption rates have often surpassed the production rates (World Centric, 2013). This explains why there are people succumbing to hunger in the developing world. Moreover, the globe lives under the threat of food insecurity because of the changes in climate and diminishing resources. It is a fact that the population will increase immensely in the next thirty years if population growth rates persist. The current seven billion people are likely to increase to about 9 billion in three decades (Diouf, 2010). The world faces challenges in feeding the current population, but must exhibit preparedness to feed an extra two billion people. Such increase will likely cause more strain in the agricultural and fishing sector in order to cater for the rising need. Moreover, with people adopting different lifestyles, the world will likely need more fish and animal livestock (Diouf, 2010). These animals and fish will require feed and this only increases the need. Food is not the only need because population will present a higher energy need for the globe. In order to ensure a level of security in the future, application of new techniques in agriculture to increase yield and combat climate change has been the way for most of the nations. The new techniques include the adoption of new farming methods, search for better seed varieties and improved animal breeds. For some time, conventional breeding seemed to offer a promise for the future but not anymore. There are new problems that challenge the new techniques adopted. Pesticides and insecticides that were once effective are no longer efficient with the increasing resistance from pests (Vidal, 2012). Moreover, stretching the agricultural sector presents its limits because of the potential environmental effects. Therefore, the discovery of better biotechnological methods has been the focus of many scientists in the recent past. Although genetically modified organisms (GMOs) present a glimpse of hope for the future, the politics and criticisms behind them only serve to prove that the worl d needs a better solution. Although the use of GMOs can assure the globe of food security to a certain level, they present new challenges as well, and scientists are still figuring out what they can do to ensure safety (Vidal, 2012). However, these still provide the world with fortified foods presenting a new capacity for agriculture to provide a balanced diet to its ever growing and needy population. Many have urged that green technology will present a better solution (Woody, 2012). The technology comes with handy benefits because it can provide good yields while conserving the environment as well. Although it comes with multiple benefits, it is expensive for the local farmer doing it at small scale. Moreover, the adverse climatic changes that have resulted because of over-exploitation of the

Globalization and Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Globalization and Education - Essay Example be a consensus among many scholars regarding the association between the interests of the richer countries’ programs and the prevailing states of poverty and adversity in the developing world. The scholars also cite the impact of colonialism within the general aspect of inequality (Bigelow & Peterson, 2002). Some of the themes that appear common in many of these discourses include the association between formal education and inequality and the association between globalization and world poverty. These themes tie together with the challenges facing Africa, The Caribbean, and other struggling parts of the world (Bigelow & Peterson, 2002). Regarding the theme of education and global inequality, the scholars contend that the formal education system lacks tune with the needs of the developing world. The scholars explore the manner in which the western powers imposed their systems of education on the natives in the different places they conquered. Such imposition ignored the previou sly existing structures of education and resulted in a serious mismatch between the needs of the natives and the objectives of the system of education. The study cites the case of the Maya who lost their reading materials to the Spanish at the time of the conquest (Bigelow & Peterson, 2002). The destruction of the traditional Mayan educational system resulted in the destruction of the people’s reservoir of culture. The Spanish case of destroying the Mayan culture represents a trend of the colonial culture where dominant powers systematically destroyed indigenous cultures using brute force and replaced them with foreign systems of education. Alienation of the weaker civilizations resulted from the education system that was based purely on the foreign systems. Loss of culture eventually led to... This paper approves that this pressure resulted in the systematic weakening of the indigenous economic systems that underpinned the growth of the economy. Farming and the production of powder milk were ruined due to the influences that followed the economic interventions of the developed countries and the structures created by the global financiers. These interventions appeared well meaning at first but gradually descended into ruin in the aftermath. Some of the long-term consequences included job losses and the destruction of local investing capacities. Many theorists and economic analysts argue that globalization essentially denies weaker countries the opportunity to trade favorably with the stronger powers. Cases are given of Jamaica, which continues to experience the devastating effect of global economic competition as a result of yielding to the pressure of structural reforms. This essay comes to the conclusion generally, globalization denies the developing powers the opportunity to protect their own markets. Globalization entails liberalization of the market economies, which essentially means that the developing world opens up its markets to global competition with the world powers. Weaker powers have stronger marketing powers and often use the synergies of their development to dominate the markets and push the weaker countries out of the markets. In the long term, the weaker countries become increasingly dependent on the developed countries for their sustenance. This dependency eventually yields a situation where the poor countries increasing descent into a cycle of debt.