Agriculture and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Essay

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1. Industrial agriculture allows us to grow more food but many of these technologies used have significant side effects. Discuss three specific examples of how growing our food under such an agricultural system may be harmful to us and to the environment. Habitat Alteration
Wildlife habitat in farmlands declined tremendously with the advent of row-to-row tillage and the adoption of a monoculture system that eliminates crop rotation. Agricultural development results in a patchwork of habitat spread across the landscape (Gliessman 1998). Traditional small-scale farming results in small patches of agro ecosystems in the larger natural landscape.
Species Composition
Changes in the landscape by farmers can have profound effects on the diversity and composition of species in an ecosystem. Some wildlife species such as white-tailed deer, Canada geese, raccoons, and coyotes have adapted well to agricultural landscapes but most species have been impacted negatively.
Soil Degradation
Soil degradation is thus far one of the most serious consequences of conventional agriculture. Estimates indicate that 38% of the land cultivated in the world has been damaged to some extent by post-WWII agricultural practices (Gliessman 1998). Soil can be degraded by factors like: salting, waterlogging, compaction, pesticide contamination, decline in soil structure quality, loss of fertility, and erosion (Gliessman 1998).
Chapter 19
3. Define and describe the process of carbon capture and sequestration. Why is this process necessary? What are the costs and benefits of the process?

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and sequestration is a set of technologies that reduce greatly CO2 emissions from new and existing coal, and gas-fired power plants and large industrial sources.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and sequestration play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while enabling low-carbon electricity generation from power plants. The U.S.

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