Can organic farming feed the world?

Can organic farming feed the world? As mostly with interesting questions there is apparently no unambigous answer to this one but an ongoing dispute whether this is pure idealism or a realistic alternative.

"Symphony of the soil" is a documentary which offers the viewer a better understanding of the miscellaneous properties and functions of all kind of different soils and furthermore portrays various farmers who have converted their way of agriculture away from artificially produced fertilizer. This can be achieved by harvesting the fields in a more sustainable way and giving back the essential nutrients in the form of compost produced organically by the very same products of the farm. It almost sounds to good to be true. So what are the downsides of this approach?
Unfortunately this question is not intesively analyzed within the movie but the viewer has to consult other sources on his own and will encounter some possible obstacles at least. For example organic farming usually requires a longer time period to regain the investments which might be an issue for many small farmers without the required security for future planning. A whole different factor can be the market. Whereas some western countries notice a trend of demand for organic vegetables there are yet many places where this is just not a relevant criteria of sale. Consequently in these markets organic farming has to convince by other properties like price, quantity or maybe taste.

But would it be possible to harmonize industrial mass production with the concepts of organic farming? If so, this could be a great chance to promoting this agricultural approach. But to my knowledge up to date organic farming remains restricted to a smaller scale of production and typically higher prices. This could be just the usual particularity of a niche development being in a transition cycle which has not yet reached its established form. In this sense organic industrial farming would be an interesting possibility. Nevertheless one might worry this could easily lead to nothing more than an industrially produced vegetable in a "green disguise".

Money Can't Buy You Love

Money Can’t Buy You Love

By Katrina Cloutier

Everyone has heard of the saying that money can’t buy you love or that money can’t buy you happiness. Many have been fooled by the illusion that money can get you just that.

         Consumption is a huge problem that is affecting our environment everyday. Today consumption is about maintaining a social status or trying to achieve a social status. Trying to keep up with appearances by spending money all the time on stuff that makes us happy only temporarily then repeating the same step over and over again is ruining lives. It is said that happier people consume less, however today in advertising we are told just the opposite. Big corporations profit the most from over-consumption and maximize on the idea that if we spend more the happier we will be. When we over spend it gives us this false sense of illusion that we are wealthy and by over spending it is proof of our success and everything we have achieved. In actuality we are spending more than what we can afford. We are taught and brainwashed that the action of buying and overspending is more satisfying than the actual use of the product.

         Over-consumption is the key to short-term happiness. We are very excited and joyful when buying a product we can’t afford and don’t actually need however it makes us extremely happy for that small period of time. On the opposite side when people consume less they are happier. Happier people are often found to consume less. Its like a high, you need it over and over again in order to feel happy. While families that have less and consume less are appreciative of what they have. They’re just so thankful to have what little that they have that it makes them happier people in the end. The people who over-consume are spoiled and after awhile don’t see how fortunate they actually are.

         When children grow up with a family that over-consumes that child will end up the same way. Learning at a young age to be thankful for what you have can change a child’s outlook on life. Some things I think parents should do are lead by example and teach their children how fortunate they really are and it will make them happier. Something else individuals can do to be happier is giving to the less fortunate. Seeing someone who has less than you can be very eye opening. It can change a person. Donating and giving away can be a very rewarding experience because it is hands on learning about a different type of life.

         Leading by example cannot only make your family happier but everyone else around you happier too. Encouraging and inspiring others is what matters most. Consuming less and giving more is the key to a balanced and happier life.

         

Consumption = Happiness

Consumption has become more than just an action, it has become a complete lifestyle. People work so they have the ability to consume more. Instead of consuming what you need and finding happiness with what you have, this new lifestyle has become, consume what you need and be unhappy until you can consume what you want. The wants keep getting higher and more expensive, the standards of things people should have has risen. Society has given people standards that only few can afford and rest feel lower when they cant afford the best.

I beleive that consuming has a lot to do with happiness. Everyone is excited when they buy a new vehicle or a new house and new clothes. What is changing is that advertising has put feelings into their commercials, feelings of love, intimacy with others, laughter, family values. With all of those going into commercials, people feel that when they buy these products, they are buying those feelings as well when in reality that just isnt the truth. The average person experiences over 3,000 advertisments in a given day. That is why society is always unsatisfied and alwasy wanting more, because thousands of times a day they are reminded of things that they dont have. Instead of realizing and being happy with the things they do have.

I think less advertisments would have a huge affect on the way people feel. Life would be less of a competition of who has the most things. People would become more satisfied of the things they do have. No reminders of what they think they need. I think consumerism is very important for all economies and everyone needs to consume, but consuming should not be a competition between people because nobody will ever get to the top of the pyramid that way. There will always be something new. Nobody should feel like they need to be at the top.

Consume responsibly for you and stop worrying about the rest of the world.

A search for happiness

           

            In Buddhist teachings, happiness is not something that comes naturally. It can be found anywhere and everywhere around us, but must be sought after. I believe this speaks to some of the problems we’re experiencing with our consumerist society. In my opinion, people have a misinformed way of attain happiness. I say this not as a generalization, but rather, as a suggestion about people who may be tied up in a materialistic culture. I’m sure I’m guilty of it and I’m you are also.

            I think when we’re talking about a specific group of the population that finds pleasure in materialistic values, we dive into a more complex social problem and an even bigger environmental impact. The environmental impact part is easy; we want more, so we produce more and in turn, pollute more and use up natural resources. This presents obvious problems. I think the focal point should be in the societal norms that promote this type of behavior, in order to change it for the better.

            People buy things and want more to feel happy, but why? Is it just a misplaced sense of belonging or maybe even competition with others? Some sort of status symbol or perhaps just an obsession with owning things? I believe it’s a mixture of all these elements, but the only dangerous part is most people aren’t conscious of it. It is underlying rhythm that drives people. We long to have the car and the house of our dreams, so we slave away at a job we hate. Jobs that take us away from these houses we love for most of the day. Seems ironic right?

            I think we should look at the things that truly make people happy. Love, friendship, learning, hobbies and a sense of belonging are the things we truly aspire for, but somehow, the way we attain these things is skewed along the way. I think we should shift our emphasis from objects to experiences. I think some companies have already started to use this to market their products. The problem with this is that people then buy those products to seem like they exemplify those lifestyles. Nike is a great example. I think if we could truly shift towards that a world whose people created happiness from experiences and interactions in their community it would be beneficial for everyone and the environment in the long run. 

Overconsumption?

Overconsumption is a term frequently used in discussions about the roots of contemporary environmental problems. Statistics about an average per capita material or energy consumption suggest a severe inequality between first and third world inhabitants. While an unambigous level of adequate consumption is challenging to define this article will put aside the difficulties arising from the choice of this terminology and rather focus on the reasons for the kind of consumption that are characteristic for many first world countires although not exclusive to them.

Source: https://www.ssb.no/en/inntekt-og-forbruk/statistikker/fbu/aar/2013-12-17

The given diagram illustrates an average of private expenditure distributed to the different sectors which might vary in its details for indivual households as well as for different countries but I would assume them to all more or less strenghten the following thesis for an average individual with a mean income above a certain threshold: a major part of expenditure is determined by consumption which might not be traced back to the bare necessity of surviving through the supply of food and shelter. Obviously, this is not very surprising and it would be ignorant and simplistic to reduce a member of a contemporary society on these ancient needs. Nevertheless, the distribution illustrates that studying the motivations for consumption might give insights that help to understand and alter it.

Being unsatisfied seems to be a very genereal root of the will for consumption. While I would argue this phenomena not to be restricted to contemporary times but maybe even be an ever reocurring particularity of mankind it certainly seems to be charectiristic to recent times in our historia. An interesting article, by a German philosopher Rüdiger Safranski, put stress on the historical relation of religion and the development of consumerism, which I will present in a free and sketchy translation:
"But lets not forget: Protestanism is half the way towards Nihilism. Religion manifested in the "outside-world" looses its significance and is being deported to the "inside-world". Here it lives on as religious moral until it looses its religiousness and only moral remains. After some time as well the moral is lost and you are left with a kind of nihilism. The contemporary form of nihilism is the consumerism. Even if you don't have a god you can still buy yourself something." 
While a historical analysis obviously has to go into more details the important point for me to note is the fundamental and almost spiritual role of consumption in our live.

Yes, I do think we consume because of unsatisfied desires. A huge amount of these desires might be unreasonably triggered by advertisements or other external or societal influences and can be overcome by undisguising their nature and making them loose their signifance. Nevertheless, I think it is important not to be idealisitic and acknowledge unsatisfied human needs as part of our lives.
Most importantly I think we should all put light on the reasons why we are unsatisfied. What is it that we are really lacking?
In this sense for me, consumerism is carrying an almost spiritual element for our society which can not just be solved through satisfaction but can only transform towards a new understanding of what gives live a meaning.

Consumerism and Happiness

Happiness is a universal concept and way of living that is people strive for all around the world. It is the reason that we keep living and why we get up in the morning. Happiness is described in different ways all around the world and the Western perspective on happiness is a unique one in that in recent decades it have become very closely aligned to and draws from consumerism. In our capitalist society in which we are constantly assaulted by advertisements hundreds, even thousands of times a day, happiness has changed from a feeling and a way of living derived from experiences to something that is commodified and can be sold and most importantly bought. 

Advertising has transformed from selling products that were bought because of their usefulness to selling products that provide you with a sense of happiness. From cars to wedding rings to even something seemingly as insignificant as a soft drink; these products are sold as part of a happy lifestyle. To exemplify this, take the current slogan of Coke, “Open Happiness” which is plastered on billboards and every type of advertisement imaginable until the consumer subconsciously believes that when you drink a Coke you are not just quenching your thirst but are drinking happiness.

The most difficult part of this is that it these types of advertisements have become ingrained in our brains and our subconsciouses where this type of emotion with products is natural. We need to separate our love affair with products and the proposed happiness that we expect from them and begin to look for real and lasting forms of happiness that cannot be bought. This is, of course, not easy to do, but maybe if advertisements were controlled more and we could see less advertisements per day we would not have these messages constantly drilled into our minds. An example would be a state like Vermont that has banned the use of billboards entirely. By decreasing the amount of advertisements that we see each day, instead of being told how to attain happiness, we could have the time to think about it and maybe actually find it.

Response to Articles

The articles "Organic matter reduces copper toxicity for the earthworm Eisenia fetida in soils from mining areas in Central Chile" and "Spatial distribution of copper, organic matter and ph in agricultural soils affected by mining activities", discuss the important topic of copper in Chile. I learned from these articles that Chile is one of the leading countries in copper production and smelting. Copper can be harmful to the environment and requires much study of the effects it can have. I also learned from this article that Chile currently has no legislation on maximum acceptable concerntrations of toxic elements in the soil. This poses a great threat to Chiles environmental health. Without any need to regulation of toxicity produced Chile is in great danger of developing a problem with soil and toxicity levels. In the first article I read, earthworms in areas of copper production were studied. It was shown that Cu and OM we're the two largest contaminates of the earth warms. Earthworms are a good indication of soil contamination because they are macrofauna and can illustrate a good picture of what the soil in that region is carrying.

The second article discussed proximity of mining locations and the effect on the soil. The location of the Anconcagua River Basin is of great importance to agricultural production in Chile. High levels of copper were found around that area. Both previous historical mining and current may play a role in the high presence of copper. The article discussed the distribution of PH levels in the soil and the presence of organic matter. The different levels of Cu found varied upon location of the mines.