The Problem is No One is Talking About the Problem
Mark Godges 高勉正
The reason the Anthropocene is currently unsustainable is because politicians are afraid of big agriculture. According to Leeds University’s Center for a “Good Life Within Planetary Boundaries”, the United States has exceeded or is going to exceed its limit when it comes to its contribution to all nine categories in planetary boundaries. Co2 emissions, biodiversity/land management, nitrogen and phosphorus output, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosols, and chemical pollution. The United States is one of the top carbon emitters in the world, and the world cannot reverse carbon emissions and thus halt the ozone layer from collapsing without responsible leadership in the United States. With each of the nine planetary boundaries, the most serious threat is the interconnected agricultural industries whose import and export center are the United States. The most serious societal threat we face is our inability to have a global discussion about it due to the power of corporate lobbyists. The solution, therefore, is to expose the decisions in corporate industrial agriculture boardrooms for putting our entire planet’s security at risk. The world’s planetary boundaries are on track to be exceeded because the global agricultural empire — led by the United States — is not being replaced. The problem can be solved by identifying that industrial agriculture in meat, fish, palm oil, and textile materials is the greatest threat to the planetary boundaries. Now, many powerful people are invested in making sure that that is not the discussion at the top of everyone’s minds.
Ultimately to solve the United States contribution to all nine planetary boundaries having been crossed or going to be crossed it is necessary to look at the role industrial agriculture plays in politics, and it’s lobbying capability which allows it not to be regulated. According to the EPA, one of the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions is agricultural industry — the combination of agricultural practices and industrial agricultural production. It is no accident that most of the discussion in the media and public imagination is solely about transportation and stationary infrastructure, because if people truly knew how much big agriculture contributes to the climate crisis, they would start a revolution.
However not only is the conversation lacking from greenhouse gas footprint, but water footprint as well. According to a study at the department of water engineering and management at the University of Twente, meat production takes up a third of the global water footprint worldwide. Yet oftentimes when we are forced to think about how we can preserve the global water system, the solution has never been put forth in a very public way that we should choose to eat types of meat and protein that use less water. Instead, we are told to not leave the faucet on, shower less long, etc. which will not make a difference so long as meat producing companies do not change.
In regards. to clearing forests for cattle or other ecosystems, such as mangroves, for shrimp, rarely do we directly talk about supply chain policies related to agriculture. Growing up, the biodiversity conversation has always been framed as one about specific product such as harvesting wood or planting palm oil plantations, which indeed are serious issues. However, rarely do we put forth the proposition that we should intentionally stop buying so much beef from Brazil and sell more soybeans than them to stop them from burning down the rainforest.
Because industrial agriculture is both the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and the largest contributor to biodiversity loss, this of course means it is also the largest cause of ocean acidification since the greenhouse effect from released carbon and methane creates carbonic acid. Agriculture necessitates fertilizer, and land run off into the ocean from fertilizer can pollute coral reefs just as much as carbonic acid. When run off prevents coral reef’s ability to gain sunlight, it throws the entire ecosystem out of balance and not only limits the ability for coral reefs to act as carbon sinks but threatens ten percent of the world’s population that depends on fisheries for their livelihoods. However, we do not talk about unsustainable ocean agriculture as an issue either, because of the cultural importance in many regions across the world, from east west north and south. It’s worth noting there will be no tangible cultural heritage around fish if all the fish are gone — but that is not a conversation that is normally had in public policy and institutions of trade and development.
In addition to unsustainable meat and fish critics being brushed aside, the third major aspect of pollution science is that of what could be a burgeoning hemp industry. The same petroleum and fossil fuel countries which fuel the vast global agricultural empire also make money making plastics. The same palm oil companies which slash down rainforests in Southeast Asia and Africa also make money selling soap. The same resource companies supplying cotton and other materials to textile companies which make up the world’s most water intensive industry — would be put out of business with Hemp. Therefore Hemp, despite having none of the psychoactive effects of marijuana, was not legalized in the United States until it was snuck into the 2018 Farm Bill in Congress.
In conclusion, the United States will push this world over the edge if it doesn’t clean up its act to become a sustainable agriculture leader. The biggest problem is that most people do not even recognize how big of an issue it is, and no one talks about it. The solution to this problem is to put this issue front and center when people are making laws or debating solutions to climate change in corporate settings. If the United States is to take a leading role with other countries in reducing their negative impact on pushing the nine planetary boundaries — the solution is simple — use the public sector to completely breakdown and replace the current unsustainable agricultural monopoly worldwide in meat production, fish production, and with large monocrops such as rubber, palm oil, and cotton. The problem is not that these solutions haven’t been brought forth, it’s a lack of political will and politicians’ dependence on lobbyists when making laws.
Sources:
- https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-011-9517-8
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14888386.2017.1351892?journalCode=tbid20
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2017.00070/full
- http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/248479/icode/
