1. Drawing on lecture notes and course readings, identify at least two reasons that explain the dramatic increases in agricultural productivity seen across the world since World War II. You can answer this in just a few sentences. (5 points)
At the end of world war two, agricultural productivity improved worldwide. A reason as to why this may have occurred, was due to “…the tremendous postwar increases in the productivity of American farmers, made possible by cheap fossil fuel[s]…” (Pollan, 2010). Furthermore, due to the end of the war, all of the supplies and agriculture that was being produced for the combatants need not be made for the purpose of the war. Therefore, farmers could then produce the same mass amounts but for regular people, creating capital gain. As Michael Pollan stated, this was all due to the rise in availability of cheap fossil fuels. Another reason that agricultural productivity increased is due to the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution created advances all over the world, by creating higher volumes of crops due to different varieties, …show more content…
First of all, Barlow outlined that plastic bottles that water is contained in are in fact made of petroleum and natural gas. These use of the petrochemicals directly increases the economy for the fossil fuel industry. Similarly, Barlow also outlined that the actual production of the water bottles involves energy, which is in the form of fossil fuels. Therefore, the bottled water industry is directly linked to the fossil fuel industry in a sense that both the bottle itself is made from fossil fuels, and the process in which the bottle is made also requires fossil