Not Such a Green Revolution
A brief look at the history of food production and the environmental impacts of agricultural industrialization.
15…16…17. Walking through East Harlem on a cold, sunny day in March, there is fast food on every corner. Seventeen; that’s how many stores sell fried and processed foods on 3rd Avenue, between 116th and 96th. Looking for fresh fruits and vegetables? Only two.
“There are 4 types of fast food restaurants within a three block radius,” says Awa Diaw, a longtime resident of East Harlem, “and a pizza store on almost every corner.”
All this begs the question, how did we get here?
In ancient times, food production was simple. Beginning at about 8,000 BC, ancient citizens began to grow food, domesticate animals and live in settlements. As population expanded and the need for food increased, people extended agriculture to more land. In Ancient Rome, every person had a garden (called a hortus), which was used to grow root vegetables, salads, and potted herbs year round. Ancient Egyptians took advantage of the natural cyclical flooding pattern of the Nile and developed their agricultural practices around it, producing vegetables, grain, barley and many other vital crops.
By the 11th century, draft horse and plows became common practices to cultivate larger fields and harvest larger yields of crops. While in the long term, the plowshare would contribute to soil erosion and lessening soil fertility, the environmental impact of this agriculture and land cultivation was not drastically apparent, as these natural resources were more than abundant enough to shoulder the blow. Farmers used natural resources to cultivate and harvest their fields, and worked in symbiosis with the environment. This all began to shift, however, with the industrial revolution by the mid-1700s.
The 18th century marked the beginning of the industrial revolution in Great Britain, where predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America shifted to industrial and urban communities. Prior to this point, food production and manufacturing took place in the home, using basic and natural tools that had little environmental impact. Industrialization however, marked a distinct move to powered, large machinery, pollutant-producing factories and overall mass production. The expansion of the production industry and the development of cities led to widespread deforestation, uprooting wildlife and drastically increasing the levels of harmful pollutants in the air. The factories emitted not only airborne pollutants but land and water contaminants as well that drastically contributed to global temperature rise.
With the industrialization of the world, the population exponentially increased to 2 billion by 1927. Agriculture in England became highly organized but with this exponentially rising population, several regions of people suffered severe famine and concern about food availabilities continued to spread. These supply concerns lead the way to the Green Revolution of the 1930s, that contrary to what the title might suggest, caused severely detrimental impacts on the environment.
The Green Revolution refers to the reformation of farming practices throughout the world with a priority of increasing crop yields. Nitrogen fertilizers and traction power became widespread, chemical inputs for agriculture increased extensively, and mechanized methods of farming became the norm. This revolution that began in Mexico, rapidly spread throughout the world, and pesticides and fertilizers became a major part of farming. While these practices were able to drastically increase food production, it held significant hidden impacts.
With the Green Revolution came larger farms, dependent on large inputs of fossil fuels, chemicals and synthetic fertilizers derived from oil. Ecologist Vandana Shiva stated that these chemicals cause “reduced soil fertility, reduced genetic diversity, [and] soil erosion.” The chemical additives will eventually increase crop vulnerability to pests, creating an endless cycle of increasing pesticide and chemical inputs.
These chemicals impact not only the soil but the atmosphere as well. These harmful practices have increased levels of nitrogen fixation in the atmosphere, impacting both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Increased global concentration of this greenhouse gas has been a major contributor to the formation of photochemical smog, a haze caused by sunlight reflecting off of pollution in the air, which contributes to global warming. Nitrous Oxide (a form of nitrogen) causes significant acidification of soils and of the water of streams and lakes in regions around the world. The nitrogen contamination into these bodies of water is transported via rivers into larger estuaries and coastal waters where it is a major pollutant causing declines in coastal biodiversity.
The environmental costs of this industrialized agriculture is only continuing to increase. Irrigation systems pump water from reservoirs faster than they can be recharged, toxic pesticides accumulate and contaminate ground and surface water, and chemical fertilizers run into water systems, causing disruption of vital ecosystems and killing aquatic life. These environmental impacts damage life outside of the farming communities as well. With the industrialization of agriculture, the economic cost of farming skyrocketed.
When food production became dependent on external resources, those produced outside the farm, the price of crops increased. According to scientists at the Johns Hopkins Center For a Livable Future, “From 1948 to 2008, the use of agricultural chemicals increased more than fivefold.” With increased fertilizer and pesticide use, and increased need for water, especially in areas of drought, the price of fresh fruits and vegetables will only continue to grow.
Nowhere is this troubling concept more evident than in East Harlem in New York City. East Harlem is a food desert, (an area in which healthy and affordable food options are not available) where obesity and diabetes rates are higher than the averages in both Manhattan and New York City as a whole.
East Harlem resident Awa Diaw says, “The most accessible type of food to the community has been and I believe still is pizza and fast food restaurants.” Diaw states, “Healthy food prices have risen dramatically. Largely because this area has been gentrified a lot since I was a child causing the price of healthy food to rise.”
This rising cost is a common problem; good and healthy food is expensive. Dr. Adam Drewnowski of the University of Washington states, “a 2,000-calorie diet would cost just $3.52 a day if it consisted of junk food, compared with $36.32 a day for a diet of low-energy dense foods.” The cost of shipping fresh vegetables or fruits across countries and international borders (with an average of 1,500 miles from farm to fork) has continued to increase and the crop yield from modern farms has grown stagnant. Because of this, the prices of healthy, fresh produce in urban areas will only continue to rise, severely impacting the food accessibility in poor neighborhoods.
The abundance of the fast food industry in East Harlem has clear human impacts, however environmental impacts are a major issue as well. The production of meat, which is the majority of the menu in fast food restaurants, pollutes 18 percent of the global carbon emissions.
Resident Awa Diaw says, “As a child, I didn’t know much about climate change. I didn’t really learn or hear about climate change until I got to college. Growing up, no one spoke about it or focused on it, especially not in our public school…I think when it comes to low-income neighborhoods [like East Harlem], folks are not fully aware of climate change. However, they are the ones most impacted because of the fact that they are not aware of the changes and how to adjust to it.”
The cheap, fast food meat options are more affordable and attractive to residents in these poor neighborhoods, who aren’t aware of the environmental impact their food consumption has. History has shown the complex relationship of the environment and food production, and as such, global pollution issues cannot change until a solution to the issue of irresponsible food production and diminishing food availability has been found.
