E-Journal #3 : Most important things that people need to do in order to ensure a sustainable future

Most important things that people need to do in order to ensure a sustainable future

            “Reduce, reuse, and recycle to save the earth!” This is a very familiar campaign which roamed through the 21^st century. The slogan was chattered as if the whole environmental problem can be removed, but still the ominous signs of collapsing natural balance alerted the approaching catastrophe. Take for instance, the dramatic increase of temperature in summer, 2016. Due to the unusual weather, the Meteorological Administration failed to accurately forecast the heat, resulting 17 casualties of heat stroke this year in Korea (JoongAng, 2016). Three R was an effective idea, but must be refurbished to ameliorate the obsolete method of the past. Sustainable environment acquires a cooperation, which means a method that is simple yet powerful must be adopted into our daily activity, like dining. The idea is relatively simple; the individual family can set a weekly nutrient balanced eating schedule, which contains what the family will eat from Monday to Sunday, avoiding as much meat consumption, buying less fast-foods, and choosing sustainable industry for cooking ingredients. The project can be called, “the Dining Schedule to Save the Dying Earth,” and this will lessen the pollution of water, decrease the amount of waste produced from fast-food industry, and promote sustainable agriculture.

“The Dining Schedule to Save the Dying Earth” can effectively ensure the sustainable future because it reduce the pollution of water by avoiding meat consumption. The core of this schedule is to find alternate nutrient source (like bean) to replace the meat for protein. There are various ways to substitute the protein. By reducing consumption of meat, water pollution can be reduced. Namely, the process of raising livestock consumes massive amount of water. According to the Guardians, about 5,000 to 20,000 liters of water is needed to create 1kg of meat, while only 500 to 4,000 liters needed for wheat. As much as the amount of fresh water is becoming scarcer, it is mandatory to save it while it is available. Eating meat propels the substantial loss of water as much as creating pollution by animal waste. Reducing the consumption of meat by using the alternate nutrient source through using the food schedule will help sustain our future.

            Also the project of scheduling food can bring sustainable future by reducing waste from fast-food industry. By excluding as much fast-food from the dining list, it can lessen the amount of waste from the industry. According to the One Green Planet, Styrofoam, which is often used to package the fast-food, consists more than 40% of the total waste. It is a common sense (tragically) to throw away all the matters used for coating fast-food, and there is often no second use. What shocks even more is that Styrofoam takes over 900 years to decompose back to the nature. When these fast-foods are delivered, the problem enlarges, because it significantly adds the air pollution onto the strove of environmental waste. However, when the project is promoted, such production will be reduced as much as the consumer’s demand plunges. Furthermore, lack of planning is usually the reason for eating fast-food which offers quick and easy selections to the hungry people. The careful planning of dining schedule will reduce such reckless choices, and therefore help decrease fast-food consumption rate and contribute to sustainable future.

            Lastly, the project can ensure the sustainable future by supporting the sustainable agriculture system. The unfamiliar term sustainable agriculture means, “ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just and humane (Aiken 1983, Dahlberg 1986, Keeny 1990, O'Connell 1991),” according to the Agnet.org. As human entered the era of industrialization, various techniques developed, including the methods of farming. As National Geographic Learning’s Pathways 3 page 143 suggested, “five times more irrigated land... one-quarter of the planet’s fertile soil has been damaged by intensive farming...” growth of economy fueled the faster destruction of land. Violently used pesticides and chemical fertilizers did help produce more, but such practice not only damaged the fertile land, but also affected people. Sustainable agriculture hinders actions that harms the land, and instead looks for ways to preserve the land’s quality. For instance, farmers did not excessively farm on specific portion of land because it will lead the land depleted with certain type of nutrition. They also decided to use naturally made pesticide like a pyrethrum flower spray. Organic food is produced from sustainable agriculture, so buying the ingredients for dining here can support creating healthy farming system in the country. Therefore, by creating a schedule for dining with organic ingredients will help ensure the sustainable future by hindering any land damage.   

            To conclude, the project which can be called, “the Dining Schedule to Save the Dying Earth,” can ensure the sustainable future by lessening the pollution of water, decreasing the amount of waste produced from fast-food industry, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Though the project itself may not seem so much effective, but if most of the people in the world performs this, it will bring a huge impact. As much as dining being one of the most important process in human survival, a small change in continuous process will be very effective. The first step is to start without assuming that others will do the portion of work for oneself. This project can only succeed if everyone tries cooperate, and take the affair seriously. Reciting old ideas over and over will not bring a better future. Only if the people try to figure out why the last generation’s plan did not work out, can the people discover the key to sustainable future. Eradication of ignorant behavior is, therefore, compulsory.

Reference:

1) ["The aftermath of heatstroke this summer"]. JoongAng News. 29 Aug. 2016. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.

http://news.joins.com/article/20514742

2) "How Much Water Is Needed To Produce Food And How Much Do We Waste?". the Guardian. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste

3) "10 Ways Fast Food Is Destroying The World". One Green Planet. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/10-ways-fast-food-is-destroying-the-world/

4) "Soil Management For Sustainable Agriculture In Korea". Agnet.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.http://www.agnet.org/library.php?func=view&id=20110801142816
5) Vargo, Mari and Laurie Blass. Pathways 3. Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning, 2014. Print.
6) Image: http://apelasyon.com/img/userfiles/images/organic_03.jpg