Answer the following question based on the Foley 2011 paper (in the attachment):
- How is this tertiary paper different from the primary paper we read on the 6th mass extinction?
- Highlight one thing from this paper that stood out to you.
- Is it enough for us to solve today’s problems of poverty and access to food? In other words, is a short-term solution also a long-term one?
- Why is agriculture the planet’s dominant environmental threat?
- What are the three major challenges faced by the world’s food system? (Obs. The author considers this to be humanity’s biggest challenge yet. “It is fair to say that our response will determine the fate of our
civilization.”) - The author argues that the solution to growing more food is not as simple as “expanding farmland and
improving yield (the amount of edible crops harvest per hectare)”. Why not? - Where does the food that we grow currently go?
- If we ultimately consume animal products, why does Foley separate agricultural crops that are directed to humans vs. crops directed to animals? In other words, what is the ecological difference?
- What are the five solutions proposed by Foley?
- What does it mean to close the yield gap?
- What are your thoughts on these five solutions? Are they reasonable? Do you think it’s possible to apply them? Justify.