Blog #4: Food Production Must Double in 30 Years

Experts say that the world population will be about 9 billion after the next 30 years. The world will need to produce more food in order to feed a rapidly growing and increasingly affluent population. Reaching that goal will require a great increase in high-efficiency livestock operations for both meat and dairy production. Experts say that the world population needs to consume less meat, because an intensive livestock operation can pose serious ecological risks. More than half of the agricultural land in the world is used to raise and feed livestock and those animals are responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere every year. This results in a higher level of methane and climate change. The reason is because forests are being burnt to clear land for cattle. 

This article is important because people around the world eat meat every day, not knowing the effect it has on our planet. I think it will be a great challenge for experts to minimize this problem, because people are going to eat meat every day and not change their food intake. People all over the world have to eat to survive, so telling them that their meat consumption is harming our planet will not make them eat any less. Spreading the word about this problem will probably be effective in affluent parts of America because some people are environmentally conscious and will eat meat less if it means protecting our planet. The world population is only going to increase over time, so people have to increase food production for everyone to stay alive. Maybe if experts invent or come up with a way to produce more cattle without burning forests, then the problem could be reduced. For now, the only way that an individual can contribute to reducing our greenhouse gases is try to eat less meat and spread the word. Eating less meat is also healthier for humans anyway. 

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/Study-Food-Production-Must-Double-in-30-Years-138506174.html