Sustainablity_Essay

December 13, 2010 ASB 102-Lesson 4 Sustainability For many years, cultures have lived off the earth’s natural resources and were able to survive by adapting to their changing environments. The earth was seen as a never ending and unlimited resource that could be use to survive. Yet, these resources are not going to last forever, as we once thought, which is where the means of technology and industrialization plays a factor in our food production and way of surviving at the present time. The term sustainability was never an issue until we learned that the earth’s natural resources are being depleted and that some of these resources are not able to keep up with our ever growing population. Today’s global economy and population growth are two linkages that cause stress on our economy and environment. With these two stressors we have found a way to meet the demands of the people who eat fish and other sea food to survive, by messing with the natural resources and using a way to create more of what the people demand. On such means of production is fish farming, it is considered one of the fastest ways to have sea food readily available, however it has consequences. The growing population has the fish farming industry trying to produce more fish. The use of industrialized fishing has its rewards, such as producing the sea food consumers’ demand and it also has its repercussions, such as creating unsafe and contaminating natural environments. The fish farming industry is an animal husbandry and pastoralist, raising animals for food and other products. Food foraging has been a way to gather and hunt food; however, there are more efficient strategies to produce food and to get food. With Industrialization and globalization new forms of food production have developed such as, Commercial fishing, Subsistence strategies within industrialized settings, are a very different type of maritime exploitation, these men are competing against each other at sea, independent in their own way, yet still dependent on each other for society on shore. (Text, 95) Consumers purchase their foods from supermarkets, drawing from the global economy; some may try to grow a few produces when in season. Fish farming has cause many environmentalists to argue about the sanitation of natural sources of water, such as the ocean. The effects of fish farm may cause escaped fish to spread their disease and compete with the wild stock. The study conducted by, WHOI, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in Mass chutes, concluded that in 20076, that ocean fish farming when done properly offered significant health, environmental, and economic benefit. However, if left unregulated and done carelessly it could pollute ocean waters, disrupt wild fisheries, introduce exotic species that might become pests and compete with already stressed wild stocks. (Jennifer Weeks, “Fish Farming”) In conclusion, Fish farming has its rewards by producing sea food for distribution and consumption. Yet, it also has its down side, such as the potential to contaminate the natural environment. Just as changes occur in societies, certain changes must be made in order for a population to survive. With the need to survive we must make changes to the environment to meet our needs, yet the changes we make are creating negative effects on the earth. With these changes we must think and come up with other was to ensure, sustainability, without depleting the earth’s resources. Sustainability is being able to go back to what we learned as a culture, before, commercial and industrialized food production and distribution were invented. Perhaps, going back to using simple tools, as a digging stick, handmade plows, using animals to produce our foods we could help the earth and at the same time learn to become sustainable without depending on technology. Because of the division of labor, many people no longer produce their own food that they eat; instead, we choose to use our money and other resources to buy what we want to eat. Perhaps, if we could become farmers, hunters, gatherers and fishers we could replenish the earth’s resources.