Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(Figure 6-18, p. 126) to producing food. The goal is to
feed the world's people while sustaining and restoring
the earth's natural capital and living off the natural in-
come it provides. This will not be easy, but it can be
done. Figure 10-32 lists some ways that you can pro-
mote more sustainable organic agriculture.
6.
According to physicist Albert Einstein, “Nothing will
benefit human health and increase chances of survival of
life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian
diet.” Are you willing to eat less meat or not eat any
meat? Explain.
7.
Explain how widespread use of a pesticide can
(a)
in-
crease the damage done by a particular pest and
(b)
create
new pest organisms.
8.
Congratulations! You are in charge of the world. List
the three most important features of your
(a)
your agri-
cultural policy,
(b)
your policy to reduce soil erosion, and
(c)
your policy for pest management.
The sector of the economy that seems likely to unravel first
is food. Eroding soils, deteriorating rangelands, collapsing
fisheries, falling water tables, and rising temperatures are
converging to make it difficult to expand food production fast
enough to keep up with the demand.
L
ESTER
R. B
ROWN
LEARNING ONLINE
The website for this topic includes review questions for
the entire chapter, flash cards for key terms and concepts,
a multiple-choice practice quiz, interesting Internet sites,
references, and a guide for accessing thousands of
InfoTrac
®
College Edition articles.
Visit
CRITICAL THINKING
1.
Summarize the major economic and ecological advan-
tages and limitations of each of the following proposals
for increasing world food supplies and reducing hunger
over the next 30 years:
(a)
Cultivating more land by clearing tropical forests
and irrigating arid lands
(b)
Catching more fish in the open sea
(c)
Producing more fish and shellfish with aquaculture
(d)
Increasing the yield per area of cropland
2.
List five ways in which your lifestyle directly or indi-
rectly contributes to soil erosion.
http://biology.brookscole.com/miller11
Then choose Chapter 10, and select a learning resource.
For access to animations, additional quizzes, chapter out-
lines and summaries, register and log in to
3.
What could happen to energy-intensive agriculture in
the United States and other industrialized countries if
world oil prices rose sharply?
4.
What are the three most important actions you would
take to reduce hunger
(a)
in the country where you live
and
(b)
in the world?
at
esnow.brookscole.com/miller11
using the access code
card in the front of your topic.
Active Graphing
Visit
http://esnow.brookscole.com/miller11
to
explore the graphing exercise for this chapter.
5.
Should governments phase in agricultural tax breaks
and subsidies to encourage farmers to switch to more
sustainable organic agriculture? Explain your answer.
