Global health: Lec 4, Picasso

What is the ecosphere?

The dynamic mantle of life. Made possible by the interactions of air, water, minerals and living beings. The ecosphere is the limited, living globe that is our home. We do not yet know if there are ecospheres on other planets.

We can not meet the SDG of zero hunger and food insecurity without using __ agriculture!

Sustainable 

What is a systems approach to thinking?

A more rounded approach to analyzing a situation. Any arrangement of elements, or set of components, that are interacting with some outcome or goal. 

What is the flow chart of the Earth’s systems?

Largest system: ecosphere

Then…

• Ecosystem

• Community

• Population

• Organism

• Organ

• Tissue

• Cell

• Molecules

• Atoms

What is a system boundary?

the thing that separates our system of interest with the context (the larger space where that situation is). For example, the cell membrane might be considered the boundary between extracellular and intracellular.

What are the components of a system?

The different parts of the system that interact.

What are the inputs of a system?

Things that come from the context into the system. For example, a farmer using fertilizer on their farm.

Outputs of a system

The products of the system, like a farmer selling their products to the market

Emergent properties def

properties that can only be explained by explaining the whole system, not the individual components.

How might you describe a reductionist approach?

• Lots of analysis

• Focuses on pieces and parts

• Mechanisms and structure

How might you describe a holist approach?

• Complimentary to the reductionist approach, a synthesis approach.

• Examines how that system is functioning and 1) being impacted by the context and 2) impacting the context

In science, we tend to take a __ approach

Reductionist

What elements does ecosphere health involve?

• Climate and air

• Water and soil

• Energy

• Biodiversity

What are ecosystem services?

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems, from aesthetics to food production and so much more.

Where do most greenhouse gasses come from?

Energy supply (fossil fuels), industry, forestry, ag and transport

Which gas is the primary contributor to the greenhouse effect?

Carbon dioxide

We need ___ policies to reduce greenhouse gasses

International

What is eutrophication?

Too many nutrients in the water (maybe extra nitrogen from agriculture runoff), resulting in algal blooms. Those algae die and consume all of the oxygen is a given space of water, thus creating an environment of hypoxia.

What is a dead zone?

An area in a body of water where there is no oxygen so every respirating organism dies.

What is wrong with the Gulf of Mexico in terms of water health?

We’ve replaced prairies and grasslands with crops, which leads to a lot of soil erosion. That erosion gets deposited into the Gulf of Mexico and has created a dead zone.

What was the popular maize herbicide that was banned due to its harmful consequences?

Atrazine

___% of Earth’s terrestrial surface is covered by cultivated systems

25%

Industry agriculture model

• Goal: maximize productivity and profit

• High yielding breed seeds

• Use machinery and chemical fertilizers and treatment

• Irrigation

• ***Increases food production but has negative environmental impacts."

Describe the agricultural nature model

• Encourages the optimization of multiple functions, not just yields

• Biological nitrogen fixation, manure, composts

• Local adapted species and cultivars

• Biological pest and disease control

What are perennials and some examples?

Plants that regrow year after year without having to replace them. Examples include alfalfa and kernza

What is kernza?

A perennial crop that we’re trying to domesticate!!

Its benefits include —> it can be used as a forage for feed, can fix carbon, and control erosion