In what ways do our lifestyles indirectly or directly contribute to soil degradation?

Answer 1

Wel,l we farm crops like tobacco that do not replenish and renew the soil.

Answer 2

Well this may be a little indirect but I think the person above has summed it up pretty well.

As citizens of western culture, our consumer demand and the intricies of third world debt contribute somewhat to soil degradation in third world countries.

The IMF (International Monetary Fund), pretty much the world bank, has a lot of debt owing to it from third world countries. Some of these countries can't even pay off the interest and it's unrealistic to believe they will ever get the money back so the IMF offer debt relief in exchange for certain economic policies/ farming etc. We all like our coffee over in the west, and the coffee is grown in third world countries such as Nicaragua. They are forced to grow coffee crops and sell to the world market by the IMF in order to try and repay debts. Now the country is basically all rainforest and they clear away the forest to make these plantations (also similar for beef, banana's etc.) By clearing away the rainforest and farming those soils, they remove all the nutrients within a few years and the soil becomes useless for further agricultural use. Also in the process, due to the loss of trees, they promote erosion by wind and water and increase the risk of floods.

It's a lot more complex than I've just put up there but check out "banana republics, coffee trade in third world countries" etc on the net if you want to read up on it further. Our consumer demand in western society for cheap goods such as coffee, beef and banana's degrade soils in less fortunate countries.

Edit: Our family are starting our own vege patch and going completely organic, the land was never used for commercial farming before hand so it's all good. It'll be the way to go in the future I think.

Answer 3

As a result of the petro Chemical industry a very tiny number of people have been able to grow a massive amount of food.

In days gone by folks grew what they needed on their own property. They used animals to get the farm work done. This meant that a percentage of the ground was dedicated to growing food (fuel) for the animals who provided muscle power to work the farm. These same animals consumed food every day weather they worked or not. With the modern tractor, 100% of the farm ground is dedicated to production for people. None is needed for animals except for those animals that are going to be used as food.

Further more the manuer that these animals produced was used as fertilizer. They are gone now. Not to worry, the petro chemical industry has produced masive amounts of fertilizer and pesticides and herbacides etc.

After decades of this we can see a degradation in our food supply. The soil has become depleated and the top soil on the average farm has been getting very thin. As an example lets look at spinach in as much as its in the news of late. Popeye set the stage for canned spinach. In popeyes day it was loaded with iron. The iron content of those days is well documented. The iron content of spinach today is also well documented. So the question is, is there a difference? YUP there is. The iron content is now about 50% of what it once was.

This is just one example. I'm sure as you watch your post, you will see many more. If you look at people who start organic farms that after just one year (it takes 5 years to be considered organic after you make the switch) the quality of the nutrition in the food goes up. The quality of the flavor also goes up. Grocery store tomatoes are bland at best. The ones I get from my neighbors garden, are just so much better and sweeter that the ones in the store taste like wet sogy paper now.

Good luck on your quest for a little info on this topic. I think you have found an important one.