Foremost, there have been allegations that GMOs could compromise one’s immune system or lead to higher risks of cancer. I was not, however, aware of the many farms that continue to use genetically modified seeds, which include major food producers such as Cargill, Syngenta and Tyson Foods. Based on my own research, the mandated labelling of GMOs is a relatively recent legislative development, mandated by acts such as the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). However, legislative acts such as the NBFDS still struggle to be properly implemented and enforced at the state and county level, especially because GMOs may form part of the processed crop derivatives, such as flavorings, texturizers and sweeteners, which can fly under the radar of federal GMO labelling requirements.
Given that the evidence for the purported harms from GMOs is mixed, I do not believe GMOs should be controversial until a clear and correlative relationship between the consumption of GMOs and their harms has been established. Furthermore, GMOs help to sustainably and productively increase the agricultural yield of production, and help to support the growing food demands from population growth. Hence, GMOs will continue to remain a mainstay of the agricultural landscape for the time being, and individuals will simply have to make informed choices on whether they wish to consume GMOs or not in their daily lives.
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The most significant environmental impacts of population are the consumption of finite resources such as air, water, food, land and fossil fuels, as well as the generation of waste products such as greenhouse gases, toxic chemicals and pollutants to air and water. Human activities such as the production of electronics, industrial goods, agricultural products and consumer goods create waste in the form of plastics, heavy metals and greenhouse gases which contribute to the pollution of the environment. For example, large-scale industrial agriculture produces excessive amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen which lead to eutrophication of nearby water bodies, while mining of oil, gas and other commodities produces particulate matter, soot and carbon dioxide that pollutes the air and contributes to climate change. Furthermore, as the human population continues to grow globally, the population is gradually eroding the natural carrying capacity for air, food, water and land.
As an individual, it is difficult for one’s personal actions in areas such as reduction of consumption, recycling and composting to have a significant impact on the environment. However, there are a number of things that we can do at a collective or communal level to have an impact on the environment and its sustainability. Foremost, individuals can lobby their governments for stricter regulations on pollutive companies and industries. Communal recycling, composting and tree planting initiatives can also have a net effect in reducing the impacts of climate change. Finally, individuals can help to devise new methods of production that require less finite resources through research and innovation.
Generally, electric cars have been seen as a more sustainable form of transportation, but the use of electric cars is not helpful as a potential solution to remedy the environmental problem of greenhouse gas production created by automobile use. This is because of two primary reasons- consumer adoption of electric cars, and the product lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions levels of electric cars.
Foremost, consumer adoption of electric cars is still adopted, with more individuals around the world opting for public transportation as opposed to electric cars. This is mainly due to the higher costs associated with owning an electric vehicle, as well as the reduced convenience in refuelling, as electric car owners have to locate a charging port to refuel their vehicle. This may be a challenge in regions and countries where electric charging infrastructure is limited. Limited consumer adoption thus suggests that electric cars are limited in their potential as a solution to mitigate the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change caused by the use of fossil fuel powered cars.
Secondly, electric cars are not very sustainable when its greenhouse gas emissions are measured across its product lifecycle. While electric cars can be powered with renewable resources such as solar and water power, a significant amount of electricity is still produced using fossil fuels. Furthermore, electric car production is still a greenhouse-gas and fossil-fuel intensive process, with a significant amount of emissions
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