Food and Sustainability in North Carolina

Barbecue is the food of the south, and North Carolina is no exception. Since pigs were introduced to the state in the 1500s, residents would cook the pork over a fire and season the meat with vinegar, salt, red and black pepper, and oyster juice. This would eventually be known as "North Carolina Barbeque."

However, as time passed and farming decreased in the state, local pig farmers began to lose their farms due to commercial hog producing corporations. In the past ten years, the number of pig farmers in the state has fallen from 23,000 to 8,000, yet the production of pigs has nearly tripled. North Carolina is now nationally ranked second for producing hogs. The mass production of pigs is not only harmful to the hogs that are being confined to small areas and fed food that has been fertilized by their own excrement’s, but also to the people of the towns and counties that contain these large corporations. The waste from the hogs is being kept in pits known as “lagoons.” According to studies done by North Carolina State University, roughly half of the lagoons are leaking enough of the waste to contaminate the groundwater. The waste also contains a high concentration of nitrogen.

Local organizations have arisen in order to regulate the pork producers in the state, such as the Alliance for Responsible Swine Industry, the Halifax Environmental Loss Prevention, and others. Additional help has been contributed through the researchers of North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina, and Duke University. The News and Observer has brought a media perspective to the issue and covered a thorough investigation on the “pork revolution.” While these organizations, universities, and media coverage have all helped, much still needs to be done in order to promote local pig farmers rather than corporate swine.

http://www.northcarolinatravels.com/food/barbecue/index.htm

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/statter.html

Envrionmental Ethics Artifact - Bears on Ice

The video above is called "Bears on Ice." It is a short animation that shows the effects of global warming in the arctic. The ice is melting as decades pass, and the polar bears are left in the end with a small slab of ice where they must balance themselves one after another. Personally, the circus theme at the end of the video portrays how society sees the issue as a joke, until the very end when that last piece melts and the polar bears and ice caps are gone.

Synthesis on 350 and CO2

“The Coral Reef Crisis: The Critical Importance of <350ppm CO₂” is an article that focuses on the environmental importance of keeping levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) less than 350 parts per million (ppm). While the article primarily focuses on the coral reefs, it shows the effects that rising CO₂ levels can have on the earth. The article suggests there is a correlation between rising CO₂ and global warming. Climate change has currently caused approximately 19% of the world’s coral reefs to be lost, and it is estimated that another 35% are in danger (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1428-1429).

Global warming is not the only factor that is destroying the coral reefs, but it the primary one. It is causing huge mass bleaching events across the seas (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). This was first seen in the late 1970s and was linked to high temperatures in the oceans (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). When the bleaching was first recorded in 1978/79, the CO₂ level was at approximately 336ppm (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). Since that time, there have been seven major world-wide bleaching events, the worst being the 1982/83 event that caused two-thirds of all inshore reefs and 14% of offshore reefs of the Great Barrier Reef to have moderate to high levels of bleaching (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429).

It can be concluded that, while there are many other factors to coral reef degradation, a rise in CO₂ is the most harmful. CO₂ levels must decrease to 350ppm or less in order to stop mass bleaching occurrences around the globe. Ideally, the levels should decrease below 320ppm due to the fact that the first bleaching recorded was estimated to occur at approximately 320ppm (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). If CO₂ levels continue to rise, not only will the world see a loss in coral reefs and other sea related environments, but all the environments around the world will see damage. 350ppm is an important number for the earth, and only society can get the world there.

                                                                                                                              

Veron, J.E.N, O. Hoegh-Guldberg, et al. "The Coral Reef Crisis: The Critical Importance of <350 ppm CO₂." Marine Pollution Bulletin. 58. (2009): 1428-1436. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul>.