Good
afternoon, and welcome back to Picnics Past and Present. Today we will be
setting the stage for discussions to come by providing a very brief overview of
the evolution of food production through time, starting with early humans and
moving toward the present date. I feel that it’s necessary to review the basics
before we dive into specific topics, so I apologise in advance for the length
of this post. I’ll be back after the weekend for a lighter (and more delicious)
post – promised! And so we dive in…
Early
humans did not have the luxury of wandering to their local Sainsbury’s
supermarket (which is coincidentally located next door to a Waitrose
supermarket) to pick up a ready-made meal in time for supper. They also didn’t
have the option of heading to a fast food chain instead of braving the cold for
a hunt, having a cosy meal in a restaurant instead of rationing provisions, or
visiting a farmers’ market instead of foraging in nearby forests. Instead, these
early humans lived in small groups and relied on hunting and gathering to
satisfy their daily demands in energy and nutrients. Contrary to popular
belief, these early humans did not live in total harmony with their
surroundings. Recent research has brought to light evidence of the significant
impact of early humans on their environments in part due to their extensive use
of fire, with earliest impacts being as drastic as potentially contributing to
the extinction of megafauna in the late Pleistocene (Steffen et al., 2007).
Transitioning
away from this hunter-gatherer lifestyle brings us to the advent of
agriculture, some 12,000 to 10,000 years before present (BP). This transition
marks a fundamental change in the relationship between humans and their
environment, and is one that did not occur uniformly across the globe. The
first traces of agriculture are dated back to the end of the last Pleistocene
glaciation around 11,700 BP, though in some parts of the world traces of
cultivation date as far back as 15,000 BP. (Crawford et al., 2012). Environmental impacts of this transition include the
alteration of global biodiversity through domestication and the modification of
landforms. For instance, in the large islands of the
Mediterranean basin, this transition resulted in the replacement of endemic
fauna by domesticated and wild mainland fauna (Zeder, 2008).
Comparisons of domesticated wild species (left of each pair) and their never-domesticated close relatives (right) (Diamond, 2002) |
If
we fast-forward several thousands of years to the 1800’s, we come to the onset
of industrialisation which is characterised by a shift from an agrarian-type
economy to an economy based on industry and machine manufacture. The most
important features of this transition include the use of new materials such as
iron and steel, the new use of fossil fuels and motive power, the invention of
new machines and the factory system, improved methods in transportation and
communication, and the application of science to industry (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2013). The transition towards a mechanised world gave humans the
ability to harness energy in order to feed their needs, resulting in a massive
growth in global populations. The environmental impacts of this transition were
clearly noticeable by the early to mid-20th century, and include
large-scale deforestation for agriculture, the anthropogenic transformation of
hydrological systems, and the increase in atmospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O).
Progresses in global industrialisation were paused during the Great Depression
and the First and Second World Wars, however greatly accelerated following 1945.
This “Great Acceleration” has brought us to current-day conditions, and is
characterised by exponential growth of population, high rates of urban
migration, enormous increases in the use of fossil fuels, among others (Steffen et al., 2009). In terms of global
food production, this transition to an industrialised world means that humans are able
to produce food at rates never experienced before, and with this comes a
variety of environmental impacts ranging from the eutrophication of freshwater
systems through agricultural nutrient inputs (Withers & Lord, 2002) to the
increased emissions of greenhouse gases from intensive agriculture (Friel et al., 2009).
Intensive agriculture (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2013) |
This
brings us to the end of this very quick overview of food production through time.
To summarise, the need for humans to obtain and produce food has had fundamental
environmental implications, today and in the past. However, the shift towards the
industrialisation of food production means that the food we rely on for survival
today stresses the environment at a much greater rate than ever before. A major
modern-day challenge for generations to come will be to feed the growing global
populations in a more sustainable way.
Hi Katherine,
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent review of the evolution of food production and how it has bought about some of the environmental changes we experience today. I would be very interested to know more about the origination of agriculture, in particular the rise of crops. It is interesting that the transition from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle did not occur uniformly across the globe, was this due to more favourable environmental conditions in certain places? If so were these conditions created as a consequence of human activity?
Thanks!
Elena
Hi Elena,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment!
The origination of agriculture and the rise of crops are definitely topics I'd like to explore more extensively, so do check back here for that a little later on. As for the transition from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, environmental conditions did appear to play an important role. The origins of agriculture coincide with the closing of the last Ice Age, with increases in global temperatures providing more favourable conditions (changes being most dramatic in temperate regions). In addition, the development of agriculture did not appear to occur in impoverished settings, instead it provided insurance to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle during less favourable times (Crawford et al., 2012).
In response to your last question regarding the cause of the termination of the last ice age, have a look at this response to a similar question by a scientist at the Neils Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen: http://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/sciencexplorer/earth_and_climate/golden_spike/video/spoergsmaal_svar1/
Cheers!