4/9/12
Post date: Apr 09, 2012 1:16:46 PM
Bell ringer (verbal): what parts of the world do you think are most affected by hunger or malnutrition?
Continue work on world hunger map
Begin 15-1 notes - Feeding the world
Key terms
Famine - widespread starvation caused by a shortage of food
Malnutrition - a condition that occurs when people do not consume enough calories, or do not eat a good enough variety of food to meet the body's needs
Diet - the type and amount of food that a person eats
Yield - the amount of food that can be produced in a given area
Humans and nutritions
Use food as energy source and source of materials for building and fixing body tissues
Food energy is measured in calories
Major nutrients needed: carbohydrates, lipids (oils and fats), proteins (8 essential amino acids)
Different problems arise from missing each part of necessary diet, or from getting too much of any part
The ecology of food
Food efficiency
measure of the amount of food produced on an area of land
more plant-based food can be produced for humans than animal-based food on an area of land
Old and New Food
Researchers hope to solve food problems by finding foods that produce more using less water, fertilizer, etc.
Examples: glasswort, seaweed
World Food Problems
World's farmers produce enough food to feed 10 billion people, but food is not distributed evenly
Poverty - malnutrition most affects poor subsistence farmers in Africa, Asia, and mountains of South America
More income and more food
Number of people with malnutrition has decreased by 500 million in last 50 years
Need to increase grain production to keep up with population growth
The green revolution
Between 1950 and 1970, new varieties of plants and new techniques led to rapid increase in food production
Most advances only worked for large farms
Required people to buy expensive chemicals, equipment
Didn't much help poor, isolated farm communities