Lecture 13

Population, Consumption, and the Environment

Are GMO’s the solution?

Do you think you think that GMO’s are the solution to social problems or a social problem in themselves?

Every society makes choices about the technology that is used. Where the choices should be made about GMO’s – the ballot box (our votes) or the marketplace (our money)?

The Tragedy of Commons

Commons: Something open and shared by all

“The Invisible Hand”: Individual selfishness leads to greatest public interest Corporations are legal persons, rationally organized for the

goal of profit maximization “Empire of the Pigs”

"Mr. Greenspan said that he had found “a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works.”

Are GMO’s the solution to world hunger?

Too many people, too little food?

Malthus Theorem: population will always outpace food supply and produce human misery Negative checks: abortion, infanticide, prostitution Positive checks: war and famine

The solution: “moral restraint”

New Malthusians: fewer resources will lead to large scale misery and war over: Water Land Oil

World Hunger Today

Food in an Unequal World

India (212 mill) and China (150 mill) have the highest # of undernourished people US: 38 million suffer from hunger, up 43% in the

last five years

Consistent World Hunger and Food Insecurity Inequitable ownership of resources Destruction of traditional food production Environmental decline Import/Export Imbalance

Hungry in Chad

Hungry in Guatemala

Hungry in the USA

Western Diet

American diet is characterized by: Animal products Processed foods Eating out

Americans get 60% of their energy from two nutrients

Fat: oil from soybeans Sugar: high fructose corn syrup

Effects of the Western Diet

Inequality in distribution of resources around the world 36 % percent of the world's grain goes to feed livestock 1 calorie of meat takes 11-17 calories of grain 8 oz of beef take 660 gallons of water 70% of antibiotics 33% more fossil fuel

Polarization of Nutritional Health Diseases of over-consumption Diseases of under-consumption**Now more over-weight than under-weight**

Affects on the Environment?

We share the Earth's natural resources with nearly 1 billion pigs, 1.3 billion cows, 1.8 billion sheep and goats, and 13.5 billion chickens

In the United States, where the waste generated by livestock is 130 times that produced by humans

World's livestock herds account for roughly 25 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gases - more than driving our cars

Growing Consumption

Inequality in global consumption In industrialized countries increase 2.3% annually East Asia – 6.1% African’s consume 20% less today than 25 years

ago

Growing demands on the environment with the growing population of new consumers Increase desire for consumer goods of Western

lifestyle and “consumer culture”

How do we pursue the common good?

Effect on the Land

Water Resources

Loss of Forests

Carbon Emissions