foodsecurity – Sitopian Pollution

A Summary of Our Sitopia

Jialing Zhong the big picture November 12, 2020November 12, 2020foodsecurity, sitopia 0 Comment

food on table — The building blocks of our *sitopia*, by Lily Banse, 2017, Unsplash.

Hey there!

We live in a sitopia – a world shaped by food. And food is so much more than just a basic human need – it forms the essence of our culture, with mealtimes being one of the oldest social contracts in history where people come together as a small community to share and enjoy food (Steel, 2020).

But food also has the power to destroy our planet. In our attempts to produce more food than what we can process and consume, the inefficient use of resources causes excess nutrients, dust particles and even toxic substances to enter places where they should not belong – the waterways, soil, atmosphere, as well as living things. Essentially, our actions have been indirectly undermining global food security as we (unintentionally) sabotage our own efforts to produce healthy food to support mankind in a sustainable manner.

Review: Air Pollution, Food Production and Food Security

Jialing Zhong agriculture, the big picture November 12, 2020air, dust, erosion, farmers, fertiliser, foodsecurity, foodwaste, health, ozone, pesticide, review, sitopia, transport 0 Comment

harvesting crops in field — Harvest season in Pesotum, Illinois, by James Baltz, 2019, Unsplash.

When it comes to food production, air pollution is arguably much more prone to being overlooked than soil and water pollution, due to how it cannot be easily identified by the naked eye.

However, another bigger issue is how we tend to only consider the impacts of air pollution from the perspectives of agriculture and public health. On the contrary, there have not been many studies performed on the wider implications of air pollution on food security. Today, our review of a journal article, Air pollution, food production and food security: A review from the perspective of food system, by Sun, Dai and Yu (2017) will focus on how air pollution brings about changes in our food system.

Debate: #supportlocal?

Jialing Zhong agriculture, on the move October 25, 2020October 25, 2020energy, foodmiles, foodsecurity, ghg, sitopia, transport 0 Comment

food on plate — An Asian-style meal, by Drew Taylor, 2018, Unsplash.

A friend once told me of her intention to switch to consuming plant-based milks as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to regular milk, but faced many hurdles in doing so. Apart from the fact that certain types of plant milk (e.g. oat) are much more expensive than regular milk, the issue of additional food miles incurred by the import of these food products also adds a new layer to this dilemma.

An Alternative Approach to Farming

Jialing Zhong agriculture October 6, 2020October 6, 2020erosion, farmers, fertiliser, foodsecurity, sedimentation, sitopia 0 Comment

plants in soil — Plants growing healthily in the sun – an ideal depiction of agriculture, by Dylan de Jonge, 2017, Unsplash.

Hi there! Today, we will look at what some may consider to be a subset of organic farming – natural farming. This is an approach established by Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka in his book, The One-Straw Revolution, released in 1975.

Discussion: A Perennial Plan

Jialing Zhong agriculture September 25, 2020September 25, 2020erosion, farmers, foodsecurity, fruits, perennialcrops, sedimentation, water 0 Comment

Apple – an example of a perennial crop, by Priscilla Du Preez, 2019, Unsplash.

In our last four posts, we explored the consequences agricultural pollution can have on the environment. But the ultimate goal of educating people on the harmful impacts of pollutants is to inspire them to take action to prevent and mitigate these issues with consistent efforts. Today, I present some agriculture-related tips provided by government agencies from various countries, to guide farm owners on how to reduce the negative impacts of farming.

Did They Forget The Coffee Filter?

Jialing Zhong agriculture September 20, 2020September 25, 2020erosion, eutrophication, fertiliser, flood, foodsecurity, hydrology, phosphorus, sedimentation, water 0 Comment

(Spoiler: no, they didn’t. In all honesty, I don’t think anyone has ever considered the use of filters to resolve sedimentation issues caused by agriculture, so that’s probably the wrong question to ask.)

(Also, I would like to apologise for not being able to update this blog for the past two weeks. I have been struggling with some mental health issues, but hopefully, things will continue to improve in the future.)

Review: The Nitrogen Dilemma

Jialing Zhong agriculture August 30, 2020November 1, 2020air, farmers, fertiliser, foodsecurity, health, nitrogen, review 0 Comment

Farmer applying nitrogen fertiliser to crops. — A farmer applying nitrogen fertiliser to crops in North Yorkshire, England, by Steve Allen, n.d., Stock Images.

In my last post, I gave a quick overview of how chemical fertilisers can have both positive and negative impacts on nature and humans. For today, we will delve deeper into the widespread use of nitrogen fertilisers in global agriculture by reviewing this article published in the October 2019 issue of Geographical.