Op-Ed the other press Science Matters Improving Agricultural Efficiency to Feed the World David Suzuki Whether you ply the aisles of a hangar-like mega- mart every week, pick up a few things each day from the corner store or have produce delivered to your door, food is“one of our biggest purchases - and one that has a major impact on the natural world. Think about the sheer weight of the food yo family goes through each week. All that food h be grown and transported, and often processe¢ transported again, before we pick it up. requires energy and infrastructure in addi land, energy, fertilizers, water, pesticide needed to grow crops in the first pla these inputs take their toll on the through groundwater pollution, oxyge our coastal waters from agricultural rut accumulation, soil nutrient deplet problems. For consumers, choosing less-proc grown food and organic produce can‘ this damage. But developing a truly sus extra three billion souls expected to inhabit the with us over the next 50 years. The recent World Summit on Sustainable Development would have been the natural place for a plan to start making such changes. But agricultur- al initiatives, like most concrete plans at the Summit, were watered down or disappeared entire- agricultural _r ticides, because th For the Newbies Heather Barnes OP Contributor By now youre likely well into your first Fall term here at Douglas College. You could be very efficient, smart and happy, or you could be like the rest of us and be unorganized, idiotic and nearly in tears. No, I’m not going to rant about post-secondary related depression; in fact, I'd like to make you feel better! So here forth I will relate to you a few stories of pure idio- cy in the first weeks of my first semes- ter at Douglas College: I’ve been funding my post-secondary experience through student loans, and, as many of you will know, at Douglas College you have to be enrolled in at least nine credits, as a student without permanent disabilities or dependents, to be eligible for your full-time study loan. This means, often, you will late- register in a class just to make that nine credit quota. This was the case with me for PHIL 152—Reality and Existence. So, the first lecture I sit right at the front trying to look like the perfect student and the instructor looks around at the class, grinning, and says, “Welcome to metaphysics”. Since I’m an idiot, I started laughing my ass off right there in the front of the class because as far as I knew, meta- physics wasn’t philosophy, it was advanced physics—the kinda stuff NASA does. The instructor looked down at me and I stopped laughing, and he continued. Good news, though, he let me into the class (if only to be amused by my stupidity throughout the term). One year ago I began studying at the New Westminster campus because it offered all my courses, whereas David Lam did not. I felt cool being at the biggest campus, and in particular enjoyed the size of the cafeteria. Now, since I’m officially “a friend of the ly. A suggestion by economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University to triple the world budget for pesticide is used, the faster pests develop resistance to it. environment” as declared by my reusable coffee mug, when getting a drink of water in the cafeteria I use the glasses, not the styrofoam cups. One day a high school friend of mine came with me to grab a drink and I grabbed a glass, as I always did, from the small black bin in the counter in front of the tap. I filled it up and gulped down my drink as my friend exclaimed in hor- ror, “Eww, what the hell are you doing? That’s a dirty glass!” Turns out I had never noticed that’s where the used glasses go, and the clean ones are, oh, four inches to the left in big, obvi- ous crate-things. One thing that’s ongoing, however, is my refusal to dilute my sense of humour in respect to overly serious instructors. I’m constantly making an ass of myself semesterly, in front of hundreds of fellow students. My first incident, however, garnered no laugh- september 25, 2002 Agricultural trends indicate that over the next 50 years, the greatest impact on the environment from farming will likely come from increased meat con- sumption. Globally, meat production has increased by 60 per cent over the past four decades. Unfortunately, it is often a terribly inefficient way to produce food because it takes between three to ten tilograms of grain to produce a kilogram of meat. pounding the problem is the continued e of high-density feedlot-type facilities, which e burdens of animal waste disposal, antibiotic and a higher incidence of disease to an inefficient process. The authors of the article argue that raising animals in pastures is ping because the animals eat plants grow- e, then fertilize them with their manure. soniclude: “When appropriately stocked and grassland-ruminant ecosystems are an sustainable method of producing high- protein with minimal environmental iculture has had perhaps a greater influence on an society than any other innovation. It’s nabled our population to explode and our cultures to flourish. Now, our challenge is to make sure our successes in agriculture don’t degrade the other nat- ural resources we also depend on. To discuss this topic with others, visit the discus- sion forum at . ter from my peers. It was in a geology lecture, and we were learning about correlations between sea-level and geo- logic events. I ventured a joke, “Oh! I know! All the dinosaurs died and fell into the ocean, and so that’s why sea level rose right around that time!” The instructor just stared at me; you could hear a fossilized hair drop. But that wasnt enough to stop me. I dont think anything can stop me. Fear for yourself if you're in a class with me. Forget scientific research, I know the best way to overcome stress is to laugh at yourself. What I want you to do— those of you who are out there cring- ing daily from ridiculous remarks, thoughts or actions—please send those stories to the OP (submit@op.douglas.bc.ca) so we can all laugh at you—I mean with you— and at the same time, laugh at our- selves. page 9 ©