How Will Our Children Eat?

Abstract
The topic of this paper is principles of sustainable agriculture. The paper says that the world has big environment problems and that these can be improved by sustainable agriculture. There are three reasons for this argument. First, sustainable agriculture conserves the soil. Second, its farming principles improve water quality. Finally, sustainable farming techniques conserve energy.
We all live on the earth. Therefore, all human beings have responsibility for the earth. To be sure, one important thing is that we should take care of the earth very carefully like a child. We have been given good environment so we have to return this for our children. Thus society should maintain clean air, clean water, good soil and good food for our offspring. Unfortunately since people have developed industrial life and modern lifestyle for better life, the earth has been damaged. This damage has many examples. There are air pollution problems, water pollution problems, soil depletion problems and overpopulation problems. Eventually these things could cause greater problems. These problems could be disease, hunger and social collapse because of lack of food and energy. These problems would affect everyone. Sustainable agriculture offers some solutions to these problems. Because of these solutions, sustainable agriculture is very important for all people. Sustainable agriculture will not solve all problems of environment. Unquestionably, it can solve part of the environmental problems. Sustainable agriculture involves many details and complex things to fix. However, there are three main simple factors that build sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture farmers must be careful about the soil, water quality and usage of energy. If society can take care of these three situations, our descendents can live good lives.
“Sustainable agriculture is one that produces abundant food without depleting the earth’s resources or polluting its environment”(Earles, 2005,p.1). Sustainable agriculture involves many principles. It has three main goals. They are “environmental health, economic profitability and social and economic equity.”(Feenstra, 1997, p.1). In “Biodiversity : Sustaining Soils and producing Food” Jacks and Whyte (1994) say that between 1950 and 1984, the world’s food production increased three times. At the same time, “Conventional 20th Century agriculture took industrial production as its model” (Earles, p. 1). Thus, “The basic idea of industrial production is to produce large amounts of product” (Earles, p. 1). Also, industrial production thinking “treats the land like a mine”(Earles, p. 2). Production is taken from the land. Nothing is returned to the land. Little thought is given to the bad results that come with the production. “This industrialized agriculture uses a lot of energy, chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and chemical herbicides”(Miller,1994, p.38). The result is a lot of food production. Also the result is destruction of soil, water pollution, air pollution and big dependence on energy. Principles of sustainable have solutions to these problems. Some people feel using these solutions is too expensive. Other people feel using these solutions is too difficult. In fact, sustainable farming principles are often simple to follow. They can be carried out simply and practically. They start with caring for the soil. If we care for the soil, we can prevent water pollution. At the same time we can save energy. Also we protect our food supply.
First, soil is the fundamental foundation for life (Miller, 1994, p. 33). Caring for it is the basis for sustainable agriculture. Soil is fragile. On average, the world is covered by less than three feet of soil (Paulson,2008, para. 2) and it is eroding quickly. David Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington says, "The estimate is that we are now losing about 1 percent of our topsoil every year to erosion, most of this caused by agriculture”(Paulson, 2008, Para.3). Soil is also easily damaged. Overuse of farm machinery compacts and hardens soil. Salinization ruins the land. Inorganic fertilizers and herbicides contaminate the soil by nitrates. Inorganic fertilizers are quickly used by plants. They are also quickly washed away from the ground by rain. They leave the soil without nutrition. The solution for these problems comes from sustainable farm management. Most topsoil erosion can be stopped with good farming habits. This means using perennial crops, not planting by streams, not over grazing (Earles, p.4). Soil damage can be avoided by using organic fertilizers, natural pest control (ladybugs), “minimum-tillage” methods and mulching (Earles, pp. 2-4). Avoiding erosion, and fixing soil damage let the soil recover its strength. These sustainable principles also help fix the problem of water pollution.
Second, water quality is a very important issue to sustainable agriculture. Plentiful good quality water is important because it is related to health of plants and all living creatures such as human beings, animals, birds and aquatic life. All life needs sufficient amounts of water. All life needs clean water. Bad water quality has bad health effects for all life. Not enough water also has bad effects for all life. Therefore we must be careful in our use of water. We must not overuse water. We must not pollute water. Too much irrigation depletes wells and causes salt water to form in wells. It also causes salinization of land. It also depletes rivers. This affects people, farming, aqualife and wildlife downstream. Surface run off from agriculture affects water resources. It carries contamination from fertilizers and salinization. One of the most important issues relevant to water quality is involved with salinization and contamination of ground and surface waters by pesticides, nitrates and heavy metals (Feenstra, p. 2). Nowadays people use large scaled dam or reservoirs for irrigation. Because irrigated land can produce crop productions that are two to three times greater than from rain –watering. (Miller,1994, p.34). However, irrigated water often contains dissolved salts. So it stops crop growth, reduce productivity, kills crop plants and ruins the land. Also surface runoff flows down rivers to the sea. There the chemical pollutants contaminate fish and kill algae. Algae are a big source of global oxygen. In “Red Tide and Harmful Algal Blooms”(2007) the author says that “ Phtoplankton are believed to generate as much as 80% of the world’s oxygen supply”(para.1). If we destroy ocean algae, we destroy big part of world’s oxygen supply. In order to protect water quality, sustainable agriculture uses the same solutions as for the soil problems. Organic fertilizers such as animal manure, green manure and compost can replace chemical fertilizers. This reduces need for machinery usage. According to the USDA publication, “Soil Quality Resource Concerns” (1996, p.2), less machinery use decreases the soil compaction. Therefore, looser soil is aerated. Therefore, water percolates through it easily. So soil does not erode and flow away easily. Furthermore, irrigation should match water supplies. According to the New York Times, “When fresh water is removed in large quantities, rainwater and streams cannot replenish the aquifers quickly enough, and salt water seeps in” (para. 4). Too much irrigation takes all the water from wells or from the rivers. It also causes salinization to the land. The two problems of saltwater seepage and salinization from irrigation should be minimized. Otherwise the soil is ruined for farming. Accordingly these ways for sustainable agriculture are simple and practical with regard to maintaining good environment.
Third, the sustainable principles of agriculture also focus on the energy usage. Today agriculture uses a lot of petro-chemical based energy. Heavy machinery uses a lot of energy. Most fertilizer is made from the petro-chemicals. Agriculture businesses ships food long distances. For example in Carbondale, now we have grapes from Chile, bananas from South America. All this uses lot of energy. The price of oil rises rapidly. According to Annual average domestic crude oil prices (2008), a barrel of oil cost $1.63 in 1946, $4.75 in 1973, $14.44 in 1986, and cost $11.91 in 1998. Furthermore, the Crude oil future prices-NYMEX shows it cost $100 in Dec of 2007(Wtrg Economics, 2008). High price of energy causes high agriculture prices. Over time unless we can replace oil, energy prices will go much higher. This may create a crisis for food prices. Once again, the solutions are the same as in soil and water. No till agriculture uses less machinery. This has result of using less energy. Green manure, mulch and organic fertilizers are not petro - chemical based. Finally growing and using locally produced food saves big transportation costs. For example, many fruits, vegetables and livestock are grown around Carbondale. In the past Southern Illinois had many apple, peach, strawberry, and cattle and hog farms. Still, today there are local farmers markets in Carbondale and Anna in the summer. Also still there are local butcher houses in Cobden and Dongola. We should buy and eat local products when possible. These things can be locally grown and used and sold locally in farmers markets. Then we don’t need big transportation. As energy becomes more expensive, life will change. We can either have crisis and then change or we can change before crisis comes.
Opponents say that using these solutions is unsustainable and impractical. They say that sustainable agriculture practices do not match the economy and the environment. However, these objections are not true because when people are really concerned about environmental values, they will deal with the earth seriously and carefully. Maintaining good care of soil is practical. Organic fertilizers and organic pest control like ladybugs are not expensive. Organic fertilizers such as leaves, animal manure and food wastes are usually wasted things. They do not cost a lot of money. Also ladybugs naturally produce themselves. On the other hand, chemical fertilizers and herbicides must be purchased. Therefore, if people do not use high priced fertilizers and pesticides, they can save money and keep good quality of soil and water. Furthermore, by maintaining soil by not overusing machinery such as tractors and cultivators, they reduce oil cost and prevent eroded soil due to compaction. When these strategies are combined and carried out enough, it will have good results for sustainable agriculture. Although opponents disagree with this ways now, they will soon know how practical and reasonable it is for in the long term.
In conclusion, nowadays some people are interested in sustainable agriculture. However, people’s past efforts in making abundant crops by overusing fertilizers and machinery and pesticides have resulted in big trouble between humans and environment. Rehabilitating the earth’s environment is not easy because it is now damaged. Nevertheless, caring for the earth is our responsibility because our children follow us. These ideas are practical, simple and functional way to sustain agriculture. They give our children a good future.

References

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Earles, R.(2005).Sustainable agriculture:An Introducton national sustainable agriculture information service. Retrieved February 11,2008,from http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/sustagintro.pdf

Feenstra,G.(1997). What is Sustainable Agriculture?. University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Program. Retrieved February 11,2008, from http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm

Glover,J., Cox,C.,& Reganold, J.(2007). Future Farming:A Return to Roots?. Scientific American.Inc. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from http://www.landinstitute.org

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The National Health Care System in South Korea

Everyone wants for health and wealth and fame. Unfortunately if people do not have good health, it is difficult to reach wealth and fame. In fact, no matter how much money people have, only if they continue to keep good health, can live in peaceful and enjoyable conditions. Everyone wants to have a better and longer life so people need good health care system. There are many countries with national health care systems. The look of these systems differ from country to country. “In 1976, the government of South Korea announced a plan and a timetable to achieve a universal health insurance plan.” (Center for Health Policy Research, 1992, p. 1). Accordingly, people have different thoughts about national health care system due to their personal experience. Thereafter the medical system has developed to benefit the nation. This program benefits many ways. The system is economical, is usable by everyone and it helps create culture stability.

The first of all, the national health care system is economical. Early care and preventative care is important part of national health care system. Early care reduces long health care problems. For example, if someone has diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease, early treatment increases the patient’s life span and well health because they start medical care early. Therefore, people need less care because they are not terribly sick and preventative care is made from simple low cost items like high blood pressure medicines. Usually it is less expensive to treat someone with preventative medicine otherwise to put them in the hospital for emergency or long - term care. This early care and preventative care makes smaller sum to national health care costs. Hence National health care systems also save money for company employers. Because of preventative care, general health care of employees is often better. Therefore, employees are not absent at work much and this makes smaller costs to employers because they do not need to hire and train temporary employees or upset their business schedules. Thus, the South Korea national health care system treats health problems earlier before they become chronic or out of control. The result care is less overall costs to the government also more healthy and profitable workforce.

Secondly, the health care system is easily usable by everyone of Korea. This is to both the rich and the poor. It is so for several reasons. First, access to the national health care system is convenient. It is easy to find, check into and use most health care facilities. Also everyone is covered by a national health care system and everyone has a medical card that entitles them to care. Finally, most health care facilities will accept everyone with medical cards. Also there are lots of health care facilities. Likewise it is mostly easy to make an appointment. Finally, there is little paper work task to checking in. Secondly, after entering to a health care facility, the focus is on the patient’s wellbeing. For example, there is less worry about money because government pays for most medical fee. Consequently, patients have less stress under the pressure and can concentrate on feeling better not on worrying about money. When people hospitalize, they need someone to depend feel lonely so hospitals provide rooms with television and DVD for patients. However, they miss people such as their family, friends and neighbor. They want to talk and feel warm heart from them. Because of this reason hospitals prepare space for patient’s family in the same room. This is convenient both patients and their family members. When patients in hospital need to do something, they can ask to favor to their family members and also trust them if that errand is important or personal thing. For family members when they help patients, they need good food and a rest. Because taking care of patients takes lots of energy away from them. After patients eat food, family members food is served by hospitals. Food is well prepared and cheaper than outside restaurants. Therefore, they can eat nutritious food and take a rest for a while due to keeping indoors. As a result, patients can be relaxed with family members and family members also can stay with patients. This may help patients recover quickly and family members can keep saving time and good condition.

Lastly, the South Korean national health care system is good to national cultural stability. It makes stronger families and a stronger economy. Korean culture always stresses close families. Entire family, children, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings have a responsibility to help each others. This creates problem as medical care is very expensive. In the past, before introduction of national health care system, there were many bad happenings. People became sick and had no money. They sold their land, homes, cows, and gold marriage rings and sometimes people sold children as money for medical fees. People also lost their jobs and when they left hospital there were no place to live. Often whole families, aunts, uncles, grandparents gave up everything because of some sickness of relatives. These were bad things. The national health care system changed the bad things. Now people have securities about their future. They are less fearful of disaster because of any health problems. Also the system takes stress from families. It makes families stronger. Since because of workforce is healthier, the national life and culture has greater stableness. The economy is stronger because a work force is healthier, can work biggest hours, and is more reliable because of their best health. Healthy people are good workers. The well being people can pays taxes for government. The good health people can help children for homework. All these make society more stability.
Some opponents of the Korean national health care system claim the system has resulted in different problems. These are mostly problems of waste and poor use of health care money spending. Sometimes the national health care system has made too many doctors, nurses and employers related with in this field. “ The supply of medical doctors, mainly graduates from newly founded medical schools, has more than doubled from about 1400 new enrollees in 1976 to 3000 in 1994. In the same period, the number of beds rose from 64 to 318 per 100,000.”( Shin,1998, p.42). Finally, so there are too many people at medical facilities wanting to get job. So therefore there is unemployment with health care people. Health care people training costs big money. So this is a bad waste of money. However this could be worse. In South Korea we have plentiful work power such as many doctors, nurses, so many different parts of specialists. To be sure this helps people because everyone can meet doctor easily. Also there is another criticism. Often health care workers conduct is to treat patients or their family unkind and impolite. To be sure, this is not a good thing. But everywhere in every country some people do the rude thing. It means nothing about national health care system. These problems need to be improved. On the other hand they do not give good reason against the national health care system. Basic point is If people can not take advantage of this, a lot of people have to suffer from pain with some severe disease or light sickness. Waste of money and rudeness is not good. In any event it is more important to serve to human health. So opponents’ claim is just few problems compared to the benefits.

Summing up, the National health care system has brought many benefits and few disadvantages. Medical care is affordable to rich and poor persons. It is affordable to the country. And also medical care is convenient to find and to use for everyone. Finally, this contributes stronger culture attitude. The health care system gives the better life to people and develops medical study in medical department. This is the best method for human wellbeing. Some countries envy about this and Korean has much to be proud of in its health care system.







References

Shin, YS. (1998). Health care systems in transition 2. Korea, Part 1. An overview
of health care systems in Korea .Journal of Public Health Medicine, 20(1), 42. Retrieved January 31,2008, from http:// jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/20/1/41

Lessons learned from the South Korean health care system. (1992, February).
Center for Health Policy Research. Retrieved January 31,2008, From
http://www.coph.ouhsc.edu/coph.ouhsc.edu/coph/healthpolicycenter/pubs/1992/chpr920k.pdf

Cloned products

In Guterl’s (2008) magazine article, “ Would You Like Fries With Your Clone? ” the author talks about cloning and food. He says that Government, public, livestock industry, farmers, consumers, and researchers have many opinions about cloned food. First the author says U.S and EU food authorities says that the cloning practice has no harm to meat and milk. Second the author says that government organizations and public sometimes disagrees about safety of food from the clone animals. European people “harbor deep revulsion”(Guterl, F., p. 1) but Americans are “less bothered about biotechnology and food” (Guterl, F., p. 1). Third he says that the livestock industry likes cloning because of profit. On the other hand farmers are discouraged because of high cost. Fourth, Guteri says that researchers are not sure that cloned food is safe. Finally, he asks if consumers should be too much afraid of cloned food. In conclusion the author wonders about cloning will be banned because of bad publicity.

Food quality affects the health of everyone. Therefore animal cloning in food is an important subject. We don’t want society to make a mistake about cloning. At this time I disagree with cloning animals for food. I have three reasons. First, there is lack of research about cloning. Second, there is lack of public education about cloning. And third, there is lack of public discussion about cloning.

Reseach is very important. Now there is not enough cloning research. Guterl says that researchers have big questions about cloning. Good scientific research produces good information. People have confidence if they think information is honest. We need research from many institutions. Research is expensive. Therefore, the government it should give money to this research. The government should give money to many kinds of researchers. The government should give money to researchers of disliking cloning. The government should give money to researchers of liking cloning. Then there will be many research results. Then people can have a lot of information. The result is society can make clear thinking about cloning. Now there is not enough research. Therefore I cannot support cloning.

Public education about cloning is missing. This is why people are confused about cloning. Research facts should be used for education for public. Without public education, people cannot make the good decision. People need simple public information televison shows. People need simple research writings. People need understandable pamphlets. People don’t need complicated theory. People only need truthful simple ideas. The government and schools have responsibility. They should give non bias facts. Otherwise people listen only to television propaganda. Now the public lacks education about cloning. Therefore I cannot support cloning.

Public discussion follows public education. If people have good information, they can have good talking together. Also public discussion must be with respect and patience. Then people can share about their different ideas to each other. This idea sharing activity is very useful. If one person does respect to another, everyone grows respect of others. This respect to others encourages people to think deeply. This respect to others encourages people to be patient with each other also. Respect and patience are best way to learn new ideas. People don’t learn new thinking quickly. People learn quickly when they know the subject. But people don’t know cloning. So we must discuss slowly and fully. Now there is little public discussion about cloning. Society should only use cloning if public is educated and agree. Now society is not educated. Also society does not agree about cloning. Therefore I disagree with cloning.

In conclusion, using cloning maybe has many benefits. But now we researchers and consumers have questions (Guterl, F., p. 1) about cloning. People need more confidence in cloning. So we must be learning more about cloning. Then we must share our research thru public education. Then we can have good public discussion. Until public has good research, good public education, and good discussion about cloning, I disagree.



Reference


Guterl, F (2008). Would you like fries with your clone? Newsweek web exclusive.


Retrieved February 5, 2008 from http://www.newsweek.cm/id/95962