I'm proud to say that I have tried my best to make a healthier and conscious choice in the diet; however, I have never given much thought into the underlying food production systems. I began to notice that beef, almonds, avocados, and many other food products that we normally buy and consume without a careful examination are not just the products but are more or less social phenomena encapsulating myriad of issues and problems. I used to neglect the dark side of the food production systems partially due to the convenience offered by the existing system.
As suggested in some of the readings, the environmental effects of food systems are highly intertwined with multiple domains. One of the interesting points made in the readings is that climate change and increasing carbon dioxide could significantly reduce nutrients in crops. This directly reveals that food cannot be divorced from the environment that surrounds it. This was an eye-opening moment for me and made me feel if we keep avoiding these issues, we will soon be doomed by our own flaws and negligence.
I recently came across this article, which discloses the unknown fact about plants. The research suggests that some plants, just as animals, make agonizing sounds in stressful situations and they are far more sensitive than we usually expect them to be. This article surely opens up some discussion on how the environment and human beings affect plants, such as excessive use of fertilizers, lack of water, and bodily harm. For my own project, I would like to investigate further on those changes happening in plants that are not readily visible or audible to us.